An interventional study of Talk test prescription and CPET prescription in Coronary Artery Disease, sponsored by Ottawa Heart Institute Research Corporation. Active, not recruiting at 1 site in Canada. Open to participants aged 40 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-02.
Sponsored by Ottawa Heart Institute Research Corporation · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other
The objectives of this pilot RCT are to examine if the Talk Test is an effective and safe tool as compared with CPET for exercise prescription in patients who have undergone CABG or PCI and enrolled in a home-based CR program with virtual exercise training monitoring.
The Talk Test has been shown to be a valid, practical and inexpensive tool for guiding exercise training in patients with CAD. The general premise of the Talk Test is that exercising at or above the ventilatory threshold or lactate threshold does not allow comfortable, conversational speech and thus serves as a means of estimating the cut point between moderate and vigorous intensity exercise. The Talk Test can be used to produce exercise intensities (64 to 95% HR peak i.e. moderate-to-vigorous intensity exercise) within accepted Canadian Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (CACPR) guidelines for exercise training, to avoid exertional ischemia, and has been shown to be consistent across various modes of exercise (i.e. walking, jogging, cycling, elliptical trainer and stair stepper).
There is a critical need to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of using the Talk Test as the principal method of exercise prescription in patients with CAD who have undergone CABG or PCI when compared to standard care CPET. Such a trial has wide-scale appeal for CR programs across Canada and beyond. It will directly and positively impact patient care by reducing the need for in-person interactions for CPET, of paramount importance during COVID-19 outbreaks, between patients and CR staff, thus reducing COVID-19 infection risk and concerns of contracting the virus.
5,600 studies on the registry are indexed under Coronary Artery Disease; 958 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 40 is below the median of 123 across 3,438 interventional studies indexed under Coronary Artery Disease.
Browse Coronary Artery Disease studies →Ottawa Heart Institute Research Corporation is the lead sponsor of 179 studies on the registry; 41 are open to participants now.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Virtual Cardiac Rehab + Exercise prescription based on the Talk test.
Behavioral: Talk test prescription
Virtual Cardiac Rehab + Exercise prescription based on the CPET results.
Behavioral: CPET prescription
Participants will be enrolled in the virtual cardiac rehab program and receive an exercise prescription based on the Talk test method.
Participants will be enrolled in the virtual cardiac rehab program and receive an exercise prescription based on their CPET results completed at baseline
Exercise capacity
will be measured by the Incremental Shuttle Walk Test.
Time frame: from baseline to follow-up at week 12
Cardiovascular health indicators - Plasma glucose
will be measured by fasting plasma glucose (mmol/L) test
Time frame: from baseline to follow-up at week 12
Cardiovascular health indicators - Plasma glucose average
will be measured using the glycated hemoglobin A1C (%) test
Time frame: from baseline to follow-up at week 12
Cardiovascular health indicators - Lipid profile
will be measured using the triglycerides test
Time frame: from baseline to follow-up at week 12
Cardiovascular health indicators - Cholesterol HDL
will be measured high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
Time frame: from baseline to follow-up at week 12
Cardiovascular health indicators - Cholesterol LDL
will be measured low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
Time frame: from baseline to follow-up at week 12
Cardiac Rehab safety
meticulously track all mild, moderate, and severe symptoms and adverse events throughout this study. Symptoms may include tightness in chest, leg tightness/pain, dizziness, lightheaded, foot cramping, and heart palpitations.
Time frame: from baseline to follow-up at week 12
VO2peak
will be measured using a gold standard symptom-limited CPET on an electronically braked cycle ergometer (alternatively it will be administered on a treadmill or another aerobic equipment). Gas exchange (VO2 in mL/kg/min) and heart rate will be monitored continuously. The highest 20-s interval average of VO2 and HR will be considered the peak VO2 and HR values.
Time frame: at baseline
Exercise prescription compliance
Talk Test group: HR will be measured during exercise training using the Polar A370 device. Following each exercise session, participants will record on a Talk Test log if: (1) singing was possible, (2) comfortable conversation, but not singing was possible, or (3) comfortable conversation was not possible. These responses will be coded as "does not comply", "complies" and "exceeds". CPET group: HR will be measured during exercise training using the Polar A370 device. Where participants exercise below, within or above the prescribed HR ranges (64 to 95% HR peak), they will be coded as "does not comply", "complies" and "exceeds". All participants will wear Polar A370 devices during their exercise training sessions. Exercise HRs will be compared between the Talk Test and CPET groups.
Time frame: from baseline to follow-up at week 12
Cardiometabolic health indicators - BMI
Height (cm) and body mass (kg) will be measured to compute body mass index (kg/m2)
Time frame: from baseline to follow-up at week 12
Cardiometabolic health indicators - Body composition
Body composition will be measured using Fat mass (%) and fat-free mass (%), using bioelectrical impedance analysis.
Time frame: from baseline to follow-up at week 12
Cardiometabolic health indicators - Cardiometabolic Risk
will be measured using waist circumference (cm) and will be measured using standardized procedures.
Time frame: from baseline to follow-up at week 12
Cardiometabolic health indicators - Blood pressure
Resting Systolic (mmHg) and Diastolic (mmHg) blood pressure will be measured in a seated position after a 5-minute rest period on the right arm using an automated, BP monitor (BPTru) that measures 6 times (the first will be discarded and an average of the last 5 measurements will be used for statistical analyses) at 2-minute intervals.
Time frame: from baseline to follow-up at week 12
Gender
gender and its effect will be assessed during cardiac rehabilitation
Time frame: from baseline to follow-up at week 12
Plan to share: Undecided — it is not yet known if there will be a plan to make IPD available.
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Jun 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Ottawa Heart Institute Research Corporation