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Physical Exercise Program in Chronic Chagas Heart Disease

Phase 3
Completed
Conditions
Chagas Cardiomyopathy
Chagas Disease
Interventions
Behavioral: Exercise, nutritional and pharmaceutical counceling
Behavioral: Nutritional and pharmaceutical counceling
Registration Number
NCT02517632
Lead Sponsor
Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Disease
Brief Summary

The aim of this investigation is to evaluate the impact of exercise in a cardiac rehabilitation program on functional capacity, clinical markers, quality of life and biomarkers in patients with chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy.

Detailed Description

The present study consisted in a randomized clinical study conducted at the Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Disease (INI), located on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. INI is a national reference center for treatment and research in infectious diseases and tropical medicine in Brazil, which follows a large cohort of patients with Chagas disease, all of them diagnosed by two simultaneously positive serological tests (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and indirect immunofluorescence). Patients included in the study are randomly divided in two groups: intervention and control groups. Safety analysis will be performed by monitoring any symptoms presented during data collection and follow-up study.

One of the potential risks that the patient may experience during the study is a noninvasive test that will be performed on a treadmill in a controlled environment, with the possibility of the appearance of symptoms such as fatigue, dyspnea, chest pain, dizziness, with minimal chances of occurring complications of difficult clinical control. Except for the blood test and the cardiopulmonary exercise test, the other tests to be performed are non-invasive and do not bring any risk to the participant's health. Will be collect 10 ml of blood which will be stored for up to five years for biomarker assessments.

During the exercise sessions, patients will be clinically monitored for decompensation, need for hospitalization and suspend or end the participation on the study. All cases will be individually assessed to determine the reversibility of the clinical status. Those cases will continue to be followed by the assistant staff, offering all the clinical support available in INI.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
30
Inclusion Criteria

(1) Chagas disease diagnosis by serology; (2) chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy, with left ventricular ejection fraction <45% or compensated heart failure (3) clinical stability in the last three months, (4) adherence to the ambulatory clinical treatment and (5) age above 18 years.

Exclusion Criteria

(1) pregnancy, (2) neuromuscular limitations, (3) tobacco use, (4) evidence of nonchagasic heart disease, (5) systemic conditions that limits exercise practice or hemodynamic stress tests (6) unavailability to attend three times a week for a minimum of six months, (7) practitioners of regular exercise and (8) claustrophobia.

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Exercise groupExercise, nutritional and pharmaceutical councelingThis arm will be submitted to a exercise session and counseling from pharmaceutical and nutritional professionals.
Control groupNutritional and pharmaceutical councelingThis arm will have only the counseling from pharmaceutical and nutritional professionals.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Functional capacity measured by peak exercise oxygen consumptionChanges from baselint at three and six months

This measure is taken during a maximal progressive cardiopulmonary exercise test.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Muscle respiratory strengthChanges from baselint at three and six months

Maximal inspiratory pressure and maximal expiratory pressure (cmH2O)

Body composition (body fat percentage)Changes from baselint at three and six months

Measurement of skinfold thickness were taken at the chest, midaxillary, triceps, subscapular, abdomen, suprailiac and thigh sites on the right side of the body while standing in a relaxed position. The sum of these seven skinfold thicknesses was used to estimate body composition by Jackson \& Pollock equation.

Cardiac function (maily ejection fraction)Changes from baselint at three and six months

Meaured by echocardiography

Laboratorial biomarkers compositeChanges from baselint at three and six months

Total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, VLDL-cholesterol,triacylglycerol, glucose, glycated hemoglobin, inflammatory cytokines, Brain Natriuretic Peptide and components of oxidative stress.

Quality of lifeChanges from baselint at three and six months

Minnesota Living with Heart Failure questionnaire (MLHFQ). Score ranging from 0 - 105.

24 hours HolterChanges from baselint at three and six months

Cardiac rhythm through continuous dynamic ECG

Nutritional assessmentChanges from baselint at three and six months

By semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire and 24-hour food intake recall.

Pharmaceutical assessmentChanges from baselint at three and six months

Semi-structured questionnaires, Morisky´s test, Naranjo Algorithm.

Microvascular reactivityChanges from baselint at three and six months

Measured by laser speckle flowmetry

Body mass indexChanges from baselint at three and six months

Measured by the body weight (kg) divided by squared height (in meters).

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation.

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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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