Reducing Arterial Stiffness with a Smart Ring and AI-Guided Exercise

NCT ID: NCT06644014

Last Updated: 2024-12-03

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

ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

165 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2024-09-16

Study Completion Date

2025-07-31

Brief Summary

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The goal of this three-month clinical trial is to study if wearing an Oura Ring and following the exercise guidance provided by an AI-based Advisor in the Oura App works to reduce arterial stiffness. It will also study the difference between different exercise protocols in reducing arterial stiffness and improving aerobic fitness. The main questions the study aims to answer are:

* Can an AI-based Advisor provide useful exercise guidance that helps improve cardiovascular health and aerobic fitness?
* Does regular exercise lower arterial stiffness measured with a clinical reference device and Oura Ring's proprietary Cardiovascular Age -metric and its estimated arterial stiffness?
* Is there a difference between attending supervised high-intensity interval (HIIT) training sessions and following personalized exercise instructions for steady-state aerobic training?

Participants will:

* Follow Oura's AI Advisor's instructions at their own convenience, attend supervised training sessions, or just wear the Ring without changing their lifestyle
* Visit an exercise physiology lab in the beginning of the trial and after three months for measurements in arterial stiffness, cardiorespiratory fitness, and body composition

In addition, the study contains questionnaires investigating the participants' experiences related to lifestyle changes.

Detailed Description

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This is a single-site, 12-week randomized, controlled trial (RCT) consisting of three groups (N = 55 per group):

* The Oura Ring (a control group)
* The Oura Ring + Supervised high-intensity interval training (HIIT) twice a week
* The Oura Ring + AI-based Coaching for steady-state aerobic training (no external supervision)

Exercise modalities are selected based on hypothesized long-term sustainability and expected cardiorespiratory outcomes. The HIIT protocol has been tested in previous studies and found to be effective in improving VO2max; but it is unlikely to be sustainable in the long-term. Thus, in this study we compare the HIIT protocol to individualized, steady-state ("Zone 2") exercise guidance provided by AI.

Participants will be recruited via e-mail and newspaper ads from the region of Kuopio, Finland. All groups will be blinded to their CVA/PWV information but will use identical Rings. Apart from the AI coach -group, Oura Ring App experiences will also be identical. The study consists of four (4) visits.

The study site is Kuopio Institute for Exercise Medicine, Kuopio, Finland. Participants will be provided materials for an informed consent prior to participation. Eligible participants who have provided a written consent will be invited for the first baseline measurement (Visit 1) where they will be provided Oura Rings and given instructions for using it, and their VO2max is measured. The next baseline measurement (Visit 2) is scheduled for two weeks which is the time the Ring needs to calibrate its Cardiovascular Age and pulse-wave velocity (PWV) estimates. At the second baseline measurement, the participants' PWV is recorded with a reference device and their body composition is also measured. Following these measurements, they are immediately randomized to one of the three study groups and given written and oral instructions specific to their allocation. After 12 weeks, the participant is invited for a repeated VO2max measurement (Visit 3), followed by final PWV and body composition measurements (Visit 4) within the same week. Measurements are not conducted on the same days due to fasting requirements for PWV, and interfering effect of VO2max testing on PWV.

Conditions

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Arterial Stiffness Maximal Oxygen Uptake

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Blinding Strategy

DOUBLE

Participants Outcome Assessors
Note: Participants are blinded to the outcome measure (CVA) on their Oura App. Outcomes are analyzed by blinded researchers not actively involved in data collection.

Study Groups

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AI-instructed group

Participants in this group will receive Oura Rings and access to AI-based exercise guidance. They are instructed to follow received instructions, but they are blinded to their outcome measure (CVA).

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Exercise

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participant will communicate with a "chatbot-like" proprietary AI to receive exercise instructions. The AI will provide personalized advice according to the user's needs, aiming for 2-3 hours of steady-state zone 2 -effort aerobic exercise. Instructions will also be tailored to the user's exercise preferences and limitations (for example, suggest cycling, if running is not convenient).

Supervised exercise group

Participants in this group receive Oura Rings and are instructed to attend supervised HIIT-cycling sessions twice a week. They are blinded to their outcome measure (CVA).

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Exercise

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Supervised HIIT -cycling twice a week. Intensities for cycling intervals will are based on the participants fitness-level determined at first visit. Intensity will gradually increase over the 12-week period

Ring-only group

Participants in this group receive Oura Rings but no AI-advice or supervised training. They are blinded to the outcome measure (CVA).

Group Type OTHER

Smart Ring

Intervention Type DEVICE

Participants will only receive an Oura Ring, but will not change anything about their normal physical activity.

Interventions

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Exercise

Participant will communicate with a "chatbot-like" proprietary AI to receive exercise instructions. The AI will provide personalized advice according to the user's needs, aiming for 2-3 hours of steady-state zone 2 -effort aerobic exercise. Instructions will also be tailored to the user's exercise preferences and limitations (for example, suggest cycling, if running is not convenient).

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Exercise

Supervised HIIT -cycling twice a week. Intensities for cycling intervals will are based on the participants fitness-level determined at first visit. Intensity will gradually increase over the 12-week period

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Smart Ring

Participants will only receive an Oura Ring, but will not change anything about their normal physical activity.

Intervention Type DEVICE

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Self-reported moderate intensity physical activity less than 2 hours 30 minutes per week or vigorous intensity physical activity less than 1 hour 15 minutes per week.
Minimum Eligible Age

30 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

65 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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Kuopio Research Institute of Exercise Medicine

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Pauli Ohukainen

INDUSTRY

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Pauli Ohukainen

Senior Research Scientist

Responsibility Role SPONSOR_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

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Kuopio Institute of Exercise Medicine

Kuopio, Northern Savonia, Finland

Site Status

Countries

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Finland

Other Identifiers

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207/13.00/2024

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id