Cardiac Rehab and Cerebral Blood Flow Study

NCT ID: NCT05012878

Last Updated: 2025-05-29

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

45 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2021-09-02

Study Completion Date

2025-04-23

Brief Summary

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This study is being done to better understand the influence of cardiovascular disease on brain blood flow regulation and cognitive function, determine whether exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation can lead to better regulation of brain blood flow that may help to improve or maintain cognitive function, and determine whether exercise intensity influences changes in brain blood flow regulation and cognitive function.

Detailed Description

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This study will investigate the influence of exercise training and intensity (as part of cardiac rehabilitation) on improving cerebral blood flow regulation and cognitive function following a cardiac event. This will be a randomized control trial, recruiting adults in mid-life (years 40-65) with coronary artery disease, enrolling in cardiac rehabilitation following a cardiac-related hospital admission. Patients that enroll in the Mayo Clinic cardiac rehabilitation will be randomized 1:1 to high intensity interval training (HIIT) or moderate intensity continuous training (MICT), with stratification for sex and coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Patients that decline enrollment in cardiac rehabilitation will be recruited as an observational control group, which will be matched to the intervention groups by age decade, sex, BMI category, and surgical status. Patients that enroll in cardiac rehabilitation but decline randomization will be recruited as an observational cardiac rehabilitation group. A healthy control group without cardiovascular disease will also be recruited for baseline comparison of outcome measures.

Conditions

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Cardiovascular Diseases

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Randomized control trial comparing two cardiac rehabilitation exercise groups: 1) high intensity interval training; and 2) moderate intensity continuous training. There will also be an observational control group who decline participation in cardiac rehabilitation, and an observational cardiac rehabilitation group who participate in cardiac rehabilitation but decline randomization. There is also a healthy control group without cardiovascular disease for baseline comparison only (no intervention).
Primary Study Purpose

PREVENTION

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Outcome Assessors

Study Groups

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Cardiac rehabilitation - High intensity interval training (HIIT)

Patients attending cardiac rehabilitation randomized to HIIT.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Cardiac rehabilitation - high intensity interval training (HIIT)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

During cardiac rehabilitation (12-weeks, 3 sessions/week), exercise training will comprise of 4x4-min high intensity aerobic intervals at a rating of perceived exertion 15-17 (hard to very hard), interspersed by a 3-min active recovery at a rating of perceived exertion 11-13 (fairly light to somewhat hard). Warm-up (4-min) and cool-down (3-min) at a light intensity.

Cardiac rehabilitation - Moderate intensity continuous training (MICT)

Patients attending cardiac rehabilitation randomized to MICT.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Cardiac rehabilitation - moderate intensity continuous training (MICT)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

During cardiac rehabilitation (12-weeks, 3 sessions/week), exercise training will comprise of 34-min of continuous aerobic exercise at a rating of perceived exertion 11-13 (fairly light to somewhat hard). Warm-up (3-min) and cool-down (3-min) at a light intensity.

Cardiac rehabilitation - control

The control group (12 week period) will include participants who have declined cardiac rehabilitation.

Group Type PLACEBO_COMPARATOR

Cardiac rehabilitation - control

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants will receive exercise advice in line with usual hospital discharge procedures. This involves exercise physiologists providing verbal and written information on achieving the national physical activity guidelines (150min/week of moderate intensity exercise) 60 and range of movement exercises for surgical patients with sternotomy. However, no structured or supervised exercise training program or other contact with participants will be provided after hospital discharge, to reflect the usual care process for patients that decline cardiac rehabilitation.

Healthy control group

Healthy age-matched adults without cardiovascular disease, who will complete baseline assessments only. No intervention period.

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Cardiac rehabilitation - observational

This observational group will include patients who are completing an exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation program in line with standard care but are not part of the randomized exercise protocol groups (HIIT or MICT). Participants in this group will be combined with HIIT and MICT (as exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation group) for Aims 1b and 2b.

Group Type OTHER

Cardiac rehabilitation - observational

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

During cardiac rehabilitation (12-weeks), program frequency and exercise training protocol will align with clinical care decisions and/or patient choice rather than random assignment.

Interventions

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Cardiac rehabilitation - high intensity interval training (HIIT)

During cardiac rehabilitation (12-weeks, 3 sessions/week), exercise training will comprise of 4x4-min high intensity aerobic intervals at a rating of perceived exertion 15-17 (hard to very hard), interspersed by a 3-min active recovery at a rating of perceived exertion 11-13 (fairly light to somewhat hard). Warm-up (4-min) and cool-down (3-min) at a light intensity.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Cardiac rehabilitation - moderate intensity continuous training (MICT)

During cardiac rehabilitation (12-weeks, 3 sessions/week), exercise training will comprise of 34-min of continuous aerobic exercise at a rating of perceived exertion 11-13 (fairly light to somewhat hard). Warm-up (3-min) and cool-down (3-min) at a light intensity.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Cardiac rehabilitation - control

Participants will receive exercise advice in line with usual hospital discharge procedures. This involves exercise physiologists providing verbal and written information on achieving the national physical activity guidelines (150min/week of moderate intensity exercise) 60 and range of movement exercises for surgical patients with sternotomy. However, no structured or supervised exercise training program or other contact with participants will be provided after hospital discharge, to reflect the usual care process for patients that decline cardiac rehabilitation.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Cardiac rehabilitation - observational

During cardiac rehabilitation (12-weeks), program frequency and exercise training protocol will align with clinical care decisions and/or patient choice rather than random assignment.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

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CR-HIIT CR-MICT CR-Control CR-Observational

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Aged 40-years and older.
* Eligible for cardiac rehabilitation following a cardiac-related hospital admission, coronary artery disease (including angina, myocardial infarction, percutaneous coronary intervention, or coronary artery bypass graft surgery).


* Aged 40-years and older.
* Never been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease or coronary artery disease.
* No history of cardiovascular disease risk factors including hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, obesity (body mass index \> 30) or smoking.
* Current body mass index \< 30kg/m2

Exclusion Criteria

* Known cerebrovascular or neurological disease
* Known moderate-severe respiratory disease, pregnancy,
* Orthopedic limitations affecting exercise capability
* Unable to read and speak English
* Unable to complete study-related activities
* Contraindications to hypercapnia
* Contraindications to maximal exercise testing
* MRI incompatible devices
* Unwillingness to undergo MRI scan (e.g. due to anxiety or claustrophobia).


* Known cerebrovascular or neurological disease
* Known moderate-severe respiratory disease, pregnancy,
* Unable to read and speak English
* Unable to complete study-related activities
* Contraindications to hypercapnia
* MRI incompatible devices
* Unwillingness to undergo MRI scan (e.g. due to anxiety or claustrophobia)
Minimum Eligible Age

40 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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Mayo Clinic

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Bruce Johnson

Principal Investigator

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Bruce D Johnson, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Mayo Clinic

Locations

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Mayo Clinic in Rochester

Rochester, Minnesota, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

Other Identifiers

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20-010808

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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