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Status unknownNCT04422418Updated Nov 3, 2020

Impact of Burnout on Cardiovascular and Immune Biomarkers in Healthcare Professionals - Covid-19 Pandemic in Abu Dhabi

An observational study in Cardiovascular Risk Factor, Burnout and Immune Deficiency, sponsored by Khalifa University for Science and Technology. Status unknown at 4 sites in United Arab Emirates. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2020-11-03.

Sponsored by Khalifa University for Science and Technology · Observational

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified Jun 2020), so the status shown — last known as Recruiting — may be out of date.
Study type
Observational
Model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
200
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
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Study summary

The main objective of our project is to investigate the evolution of psychosocial, cardiovascular and immune markers in healthcare with different levels of exposure to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the detailed description

Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created new and unpredictable challenges for healthcare systems. Healthcare professionals are heavily affected by this rapidly changing situation. They may experience psychological burden, especially nurses, women, and frontline health care professionals directly engaged in the diagnosis, treatment, and care for patients with COVID-19. The objective of this study is to investigate the evolution of psychosocial, cardiovascular and immune markers in healthcare professionals with different levels of exposure to the COVID-19 pandemic. The effects of the pandemic work burden on psychological, cardiovascular and immune biomarkers will be stratified per level of exposure to the COVID-19 pandemic, positive diagnosis to COVID-19, profession, sex, age and already existent cardiovascular risk.

Methods: A STROBE compliant, blended exploratory study involving online and onsite approach with wearable monitoring will be implemented. A planned random probability sample of residents, staff physicians, nurses and auxiliary healthcare professionals will be recruited from both inpatient and outpatient medicine services will be stratified by exposure to COVID-19 pandemic (frontline versus second line). In a first step, will be an online recruitment with e-consent and e-survey with Maslach Burnout Inventory, Fuster-BEWAT score and sociodemographic characteristics, and planning for onsite visit; in a second step, will be a setup for wearable monitoring of heart rate, actimetry and sleep quality together with blood sampling for immune biomarkers; steps 1 \& 2 will be repeated at 2-3 months, 6 months. Power BI \& Tableau will be used for data visualization purposes, while the front-end data capture application will be used for data collection and will be built using specific survey/questionnaire related tools for healthcare usage data linkage.

Ethics and dissemination: Institutional Review Board approval has been obtained from Khalifa University (protocol # CPRA-2020-034) and Department of Health-Abu Dhabi (protocol # CVDC-20-05/2020-8). Data analysis, release of results and publication of manuscripts are scheduled to start in early 2021. Data and findings may be useful to healthcare policymakers for developing preventive strategies to reduce or prevent burnout, cardiovascular risk and immune dysfunction.

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Conditions studied

  • Cardiovascular Risk Factor
  • Burnout
  • Immune Deficiency

Keywords

  • Pandemics
  • Healthcare professionals
  • Burnout
  • Cardiovascular risk
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In context

COVID-19

7,638 studies on the registry are indexed under COVID-19; 488 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 200 is below the median of 260 across 3,135 observational studies indexed under COVID-19.

Browse COVID-19 studies →

Lead sponsor

This is the only study on the registry with Khalifa University for Science and Technology as lead sponsor.

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

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No
Sampling method
Probability sample

Study population

Residents, staff physicians, nurses and auxiliary healthcare professionals (adult males and females over 18 years) from both inpatient and outpatient medicine services

Inclusion criteria

  • all residents, staff physicians, nurses and auxiliary healthcare professionals from both inpatient and outpatient medicine services who agreed to be a part of the study will be provided with heart rate tracking devices to monitor heart rate.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • not willing to complete written consent form.
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Study design

Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
200 participants (estimated)
Patient registry
No
06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Change from Baseline Burnout at 2-3 months and 6 months

    Burnout - through self-reported stress and burnout thoughts, beliefs, emotions, behavior related to Covid-19 using Maslach Burnout Inventory. Maslach Burnout Inventory - is a 22-item survey that covers 3 areas: Emotional Exhaustion (EE), Depersonalization (DP), and low sense of Personal Accomplishment (PA). Each subscale includes multiple questions with frequency rating choices of Never, A few times a year or less, Once a month or less, A few times a month, Once a week, A few times a week, or Every day.

    Time frame: baseline, 2-3 months, 6 months

  2. Change from Baseline Cardiovascular Risk Cardiovascular Risk Through Heart Rate Variability Markers at 2-3 months and 6 months

    Data is collected through wearable monitoring technology. Cardiovascular risk through monitoring of heart rate variability (HRV) markers. Changes of heart rate variability (HRV) reflecting cardiac autonomic dysfunction are associated with greater risks for cardiac morbidity and mortality.

    Time frame: baseline, 2-3 months, 6 months

  3. Change from Baseline Through Actigraphy at 2-3 months and 6 months

    Data is collected through wearable monitoring technology. Actigraphy data is collected in 1 min epochs using the zero-crossing modes.

    Time frame: baseline, 2-3 months, 6 months

  4. Change from Baseline Through Sleep Quality at 2-3 months and 6 months

    Data is collected through wearable monitoring technology. Sleep efficiency is defined as the proportion of the estimated sleep periods spent asleep. Sleep latency is the length of time taken to fall asleep, calculated as the time between 'lights off' to the first period of 3 min of consecutive epochs scored as sleep.

    Time frame: baseline, 2-3 months, 6 months

  5. Change from Baseline Cardiovascular Risk Through Fuster-BEWAT score at 2-3 months and 6 months

    Cardiovascular risk through Fuster-BEWAT score. The Fuster-BEWAT score will be analyzed as a continuous variable with total score ranging from 0 to 15 points. Additionally, each component will be categorized as ideal (3) or nonideal (0 to 2), and participants will be classified as having poor, intermediate, or ideal cardiovascular health based on the total number of ideal components (0 to 1 = poor, 2 to 3 = intermediate, 4 to 5 = ideal) (Fernández-Alvira et al., 2017).

    Time frame: baseline, 2-3 months, 6 months

  6. Change from Baseline Immune Dysfunction at 2-3 months and 6 months

    Classification of the immune function will be screened.

    Time frame: baseline, 2-3 months, 6 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Change from Baseline Cardio-Respiratory Fitness at 2-3 months and 6 months

    Submaximal field test and maximal oxygen consumption (VO2, mL/kg/min).

    Time frame: baseline, 2-3 months, 6 months

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Study locations

4 of 4 sites recruiting
  • Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi
    Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
    Recruiting
  • Mediclinic
    Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
    Recruiting
  • Sheikh Khalifa Medical City
    Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
    Recruiting
  • Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City
    Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
    Recruiting
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References and documents

Publications

  • Pereira VL Jr, Dobre M, Dos Santos SG, Fuzatti JS, Oliveira CR, Campos LA, Brateanu A, Baltatu OC. Association between Carotid Intima Media Thickness and Heart Rate Variability in Adults at Increased Cardiovascular Risk. Front Physiol. 2017 Apr 26;8:248. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2017.00248. eCollection 2017. PubMed 28491040 ↗
  • Pinheiro Ade O, Pereira VL Jr, Baltatu OC, Campos LA. Cardiac autonomic dysfunction in elderly women with myocardial infarction. Curr Med Res Opin. 2015;31(10):1849-54. doi: 10.1185/03007995.2015.1074065. Epub 2015 Aug 26. PubMed 26196167 ↗
  • da Silva ELP, Pereira R, Reis LN, Pereira VL Jr, Campos LA, Wessel N, Baltatu OC. Heart rate detrended fluctuation indexes as estimate of obstructive sleep apnea severity. Medicine (Baltimore). 2015 Jan;94(4):e516. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000000516. PubMed 25634206 ↗
  • Gomez-Pardo E, Fernandez-Alvira JM, Vilanova M, Haro D, Martinez R, Carvajal I, Carral V, Rodriguez C, de Miguel M, Bodega P, Santos-Beneit G, Penalvo JL, Marina I, Perez-Farinos N, Dal Re M, Villar C, Robledo T, Vedanthan R, Bansilal S, Fuster V. A Comprehensive Lifestyle Peer Group-Based Intervention on Cardiovascular Risk Factors: The Randomized Controlled Fifty-Fifty Program. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2016 Feb 9;67(5):476-85. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2015.10.033. Epub 2015 Nov 9. Erratum In: J Am Coll Cardiol. 2016 Mar 22;67(11):1385. PubMed 26562047 ↗
  • Fernandez-Alvira JM, Fuster V, Pocock S, Sanz J, Fernandez-Friera L, Laclaustra M, Fernandez-Jimenez R, Mendiguren J, Fernandez-Ortiz A, Ibanez B, Bueno H. Predicting Subclinical Atherosclerosis in Low-Risk Individuals: Ideal Cardiovascular Health Score and Fuster-BEWAT Score. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2017 Nov 14;70(20):2463-2473. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2017.09.032. PubMed 29145946 ↗
  • Henriksen A, Grimsgaard S, Horsch A, Hartvigsen G, Hopstock L. Validity of the Polar M430 Activity Monitor in Free-Living Conditions: Validation Study. JMIR Form Res. 2019 Aug 16;3(3):e14438. doi: 10.2196/14438. PubMed 31420958 ↗
  • Alameri F, Aldaheri N, Almesmari S, Basaloum M, Albeshr NA, Simsekler MCE, Ugwuoke NV, Dalkilinc M, Al Qubaisi M, Campos LA, Almahmeed W, Alefishat E, Al Tunaiji H, Baltatu OC. Burnout and Cardiovascular Risk in Healthcare Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Front Psychiatry. 2022 Apr 4;13:867233. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.867233. eCollection 2022. PubMed 35444572 ↗
  • Al Tunaiji H, Al Qubaisi M, Dalkilinc M, Campos LA, Ugwuoke NV, Alefishat E, Aloum L, Ross R, Almahmeed W, Baltatu OC. Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic Burnout on Cardiovascular Risk in Healthcare Professionals Study Protocol: A Multicenter Exploratory Longitudinal Study. Front Med (Lausanne). 2020 Dec 22;7:571057. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2020.571057. eCollection 2020. PubMed 33415114 ↗
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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Nov 3, 2020, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04422418
Lead sponsor
Khalifa University for Science and Technology
Collaborators
Zayed Military Hospital, Abu Dhabi University, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, Mediclinic Middle East, Myriad Global Solutions
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jun 9, 2020
Start date
Jul 1, 2020
Primary completion
Dec 14, 2020 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2020 (estimated)
Last update
Nov 3, 2020

Study contacts

Ovidiu C Baltatu, MD PhD
Contact
ovidiu.baltatu@ku.ac.ae
‭+971 2 810 9797
Hashel Al Tunaiji, MD MSc
Contact
dr.tunaiji@ymail.com
+971 50 635 5002
Wael Almahmeed, MD
study chair · Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi

Oversight

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

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