CClinicalTrials.gg
WithdrawnNCT03675113Updated Oct 22, 2020

Effect of Upper Extremity Aerobic Exercise Training on Exercise Capacity Patients With Chronic Heart Failure

An interventional study of Upper extremity aerobic exercise and Control Group in Chronic Heart Failure, sponsored by Gazi University. Withdrawn at 2 sites in Turkey. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 85 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2020-10-22.

Sponsored by Gazi University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care

Why this study was withdrawn
This study was a doctorate thesis and student changed the subject of her thesis.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
0
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 85 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Heart failure is a cardiac structural or functional disorder that, despite normal filling pressures, leads to inability to deliver enough oxygen to meet the metabolic needs o tissue. Heart failure is a serious chronic condition that affects a large proportion of the adult population in the world causing high mortality, leading to exercise intolerance and reduced health-related quality of life. Patients included in the cardiac rehabilitation program slow down disease progression, hospitalization decreases, quality of life improves and health expenditures decrease. Despite the frequent use of upper extremities in daily living activities, studies investigating the effect of upper extremity aerobic training on daily living activities, functional exercise capacity and other outcomes are limited. No studies have investigated the effect of upper extremity aerobic exercise training on physical activity level, functional and maximal exercise capacity and other measures in patients with heart failure.

Read the detailed description

It has been reported that exercise capacity in peak arm exercise is almost 30% lower in heart failure patients. For this reason intolerance to arm exercise is a significant problem in heart failure patients and may contribute to a decrease in performance in activities of daily living. Considering the fact that developments in these patients are caused by vasculature functional adaptation the extremity skeletal muscle and applied limbs, upper extremity exercises may be useful to reduce exercise intolerance during activities requiring continuous arm movement.

02

Conditions studied

  • Chronic Heart Failure

Browse trials for

Keywords

  • upper extremity aerobic exercise
  • functional exercise capacity
  • maximal exercise capacity
  • respiratory endurance
  • quality of life
  • dyspnea
  • pulmonary function
  • fatigue
  • anxiety
  • depression
03

In context

Heart Failure

5,701 studies on the registry are indexed under Heart Failure; 1,220 are open to participants now.

Browse Heart Failure studies →

Lead sponsor

Gazi University is the lead sponsor of 531 studies on the registry; 99 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 85 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • Patients with a diagnosis of chronic heart failure diagnosed at rest below 40% of the left ventricular ejection fraction and class 1-3 according to the New York Heart Association classification
  • Optimal medical treatment at least 30 days and clinically stable

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with unstable angina pectoris
  • Decompensated heart failure
  • Primary pulmonary hypertension
  • Complex ventricular arrhythmia
  • Contraindication to cardiopulmonary exercise testing
  • Patients who have had myocardial ischemia in the past 3 months
  • Ischemic cerebrovascular events
  • Second and third degree atrioventricular block
  • Thrombus detected in the left ventricle
  • Uncontrolled insulin dependent diabetes mellitus
  • Uncontrolled hypertension
  • Renal insufficiency
  • Acute infection
  • Aortic stenosis
  • Acute pulmonary embolism
  • Mental, musculoskeletal, neurological, or systemic illness that will prevent exercise.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Supportive care
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Participant)
Enrollment
0 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    upper extremity aerobic group

    The upper extremity aerobic exercise training with an arm ergometer will be performed in the treatment group so that training intensity will be between 60% and 80% of the maximum heart rate, dyspnea perception will be 3-4 according to Modified Borg Scale and fatigue perception will be 5-6 according to Modified Borg Scale, training duration will be 3 day per a week through 6-weeks.

    Other: Upper extremity aerobic exercise

  • Sham comparator
    control group

    Deep breathing exercises combination with arm movements will be given as a home program in the control group. Training duration will be 3 day per a week through 6-weeks.

    Other: Control Group

Interventions

  • OtherUpper extremity aerobic exercise

    Range of maximal heart rate will be followed by a polar band during supervised session each week. Aerobic exercise will be trained for 30 min-per/day, 3 days/week, 6 weeks. All sessions are being performed by a physiotherapist at cardiopulmonary rehabilitation department.

  • OtherControl Group

    Deep breathing exercises combinated with arm movements

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Maximal exercise capacity

    It will be evaluated using symptom limited cardiopulmonary exercise testing. The cardiopulmonary exercise test will be performed at a progressively increasing speed and grade

    Time frame: Second day

Secondary outcomes

  1. Pulmonary function

    Dynamic lung volume measurements will be performed using a spirometry according to the American Thoracic Society and European Respiratory Society criteria.

    Time frame: First day

  2. Respiratory muscle strength

    Maximal inspiratory and expiratory muscle strength will be evaluated a using mouth pressure device.

    Time frame: First day

  3. Pulmonary muscle endurance

    It will be evaluated incremental threshold loading test, in which participants started an initial load of 30% of maximal inspiratory pressure with a 10% increment every 2 minutes.

    Time frame: First day

  4. Peripheral muscle strength

    It will be evaluated using a portable hand held Dynamometer.

    Time frame: First day

  5. Grip strength

    It will be evaluated using a grip dynamometer.

    Time frame: First day

  6. Functional impairment due to dyspnea

    It will be evaluated with modified Medical Research Council Dyspnea Scale (MMRC). MMRC is a baseline assessment of functional impairment attributable to dyspnea from respiratory disease. modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) Dyspnea Scale, which consist of five-item scale based on a variety of physical activities that cause a feeling of dyspnea, was used to determine the severity of patients' shortness of breath. The participants read and chose the most appropriate scale option between 0 and 4 that best describes the degree of their pulmonary distress.

    Time frame: First day

  7. Physical activity level

    Physical activity will be evaluated multi sensor activity monitor for 4 consecutive days.

    Time frame: First day

  8. Functional exercise capacity

    Six minute pegboard and ring test (6-PBRT) was applied to assess the functional capacity of the upper limbs. Subjects are asked to move as many rings as possible in 6 minutes, and the score is the number of rings moved during the 6-minute period.

    Time frame: First day

  9. Activity daily of living

    London Chest Activity Daily of Living Scale is a 15-item scale divided into 4 domains: self-care (4 items), domestic (6 items), physical (2 items), and leisure (3 items).The total score is calculated by summing the domains and ranges from 0 to 75, with higher values indicating more marked limitation in activity daily of living performance.

    Time frame: Second day

  10. Quality of sleep

    Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (Turkish version) (PSQI) is a self-reported questionnaire. PSQI evaluates patients' sleep quality. The scale includes 24 questions overall, with 19 questions answered by the person him/ herself and the remaining 5 answered by his/her bed partner or roommate. The first 19 self-answered questions evaluate 7 subscales, subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, duration of sleep, routine sleep activity, sleep disorders, the use of drugs for sleeping, and daytime dysfunction. Each item in the scale is scored between 0 and 3 (no difficulty to severe difficulty). The sum of the 7 subscale scores gives the overall PSQI score. Lower scores show better sleep quality.

    Time frame: Second day

  11. Fatigue

    Fatigue Severity Scale (Turkish version) - Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) is a self-reported questionnaire. FSS evaluates patient's fatigue severity. This questionnaire includes 9 items and score range for each item from 1 to 7 point (7-point Likert scale). Fatigue Severity Scale score is calculates by deriving an arithmetic mean. Cut-scores of over 4 are indicative of significant fatigue (higher scores show more severe fatigue).

    Time frame: Second day

  12. Anxiety and depression

    Hospital Anxiety and Depression (Turkish version). The test used to determine the risk group of patients in terms of anxiety and depression and consists of 14 questions. Lowest score that patients can get from both subscales is 0, the highest score 21. The cut-off points for the Turkish version of the HAD scale were 10 for the anxiety subscale (HAD-A) and 7 for the depression subscale (HAD-D).

    Time frame: Second day

  13. Quality of life scale

    Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ) (Turkish version of scale) 21 items rated on six-point Likert scales, representing different degrees of impact of heart failure on Heart Related Quality of Life (HRQoL), from 0 (none) to 5 (very much). It provides a total score (range 0-105, from best to worst HRQoL), as well as scores for two dimensions, physical (8 items, range 0-40) and emotional (5 items, range 0-25).

    Time frame: Second day

  14. Dyspnea

    It will be evaluated modified Borg Scale. This modified 12-point scale consists (0, 0.5, 1-10) corresponds with increasing shortness of breath. Patients were asked to mark the most appropriate description or number of their shortness of breath at rest and during exercise.

    Time frame: Second day

07

Study locations

2 sites
  • Gazi University
    Ankara, Yenimahalle 06500, Turkey
  • Gazi University Faculty of Health Science Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation
    Ankara, 06500, Turkey
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Giannuzzi P, Temporelli PL, Corra U, Tavazzi L; ELVD-CHF Study Group. Antiremodeling effect of long-term exercise training in patients with stable chronic heart failure: results of the Exercise in Left Ventricular Dysfunction and Chronic Heart Failure (ELVD-CHF) Trial. Circulation. 2003 Aug 5;108(5):554-9. doi: 10.1161/01.CIR.0000081780.38477.FA. Epub 2003 Jul 14. PubMed 12860904 ↗
  • Ades PA, Keteyian SJ, Balady GJ, Houston-Miller N, Kitzman DW, Mancini DM, Rich MW. Cardiac rehabilitation exercise and self-care for chronic heart failure. JACC Heart Fail. 2013 Dec;1(6):540-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jchf.2013.09.002. Epub 2013 Oct 24. PubMed 24622007 ↗
  • Antunes-Correa LM, Kanamura BY, Melo RC, Nobre TS, Ueno LM, Franco FG, Roveda F, Braga AM, Rondon MU, Brum PC, Barretto AC, Middlekauff HR, Negrao CE. Exercise training improves neurovascular control and functional capacity in heart failure patients regardless of age. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2012 Aug;19(4):822-9. doi: 10.1177/1741826711414626. Epub 2011 Jun 22. PubMed 21697210 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Oct 22, 2020, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03675113
Lead sponsor
Gazi University
Responsible party
Meral Boşnak Güçlü (associate professor, Gazi University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Sep 18, 2018
Start date
Sep 5, 2018
Primary completion
Jun 2020 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 2020 (estimated)
Last update
Oct 22, 2020

Study contacts

Hanım Eda GÖKTAŞ, MSc
study chair · Gazi University
Meral BOŞNAK GÜÇLÜ, PhD
study director · Gazi University
Adnan ABACI, PhD
principal investigator · Gazi University

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is withdrawn, as verified in Oct 2020. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion