Efficacy and Cost Effectiveness of Relaxation and Response to CHF

April 6, 2015 updated by: US Department of Veterans Affairs
Despite the development of significant pharmaceutical treatments, morbidity and mortality of chronic heart failure (CHF) patients remain high, patients� quality of life is poor, and their health care utilization is heavy. It is therefore important to find a cost effective non-pharmaceutical treatment to help CHF patients manage the disease. The relaxation response has been found to be effective in managing CHF-related conditions. With its favorable physiological changes, the relaxation response is likely to benefit CHF patients.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Background:

Despite the development of significant pharmaceutical treatments, morbidity and mortality of chronic heart failure (CHF) patients remain high, patients� quality of life is poor, and their health care utilization is heavy. It is therefore important to find a cost effective non-pharmaceutical treatment to help CHF patients manage the disease. The relaxation response has been found to be effective in managing CHF-related conditions. With its favorable physiological changes, the relaxation response is likely to benefit CHF patients.

Objectives:

1. To evaluate the effects of a 15-week relaxation response intervention program on improving functional capacity and health-related quality of life as compared with an ongoing 15-week educational program for cardiac disease management, and a control group of usual cardiac care; 2. To identify the costs of conducting the intervention and the cardiac care education and the costs associated with cardiac care services; and to compare cost among three study groups.

Methods:

This is a single-blind three-armed randomized trial in CHF patients who receive care at the Boston VA Medical Center. Enrolled patients are randomly assigned, with equal numbers, to one of the three study groups. Outcomes include cardiac functional capacity and self-reported health-related quality of life. We also conduct a qualitative study to interview patients by phone about their experience in the study.

Status:

This project has completed the data collection phase and is in the data analysis phase.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

90

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Bedford, Massachusetts, United States, 01730
        • Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, Bedford, MA

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

CHF diagnosis, NY stage 2 or 3

Exclusion Criteria:

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: Arm 1
Behavioral: relaxation technique
Behavioral: educational program

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

US Department of Veterans Affairs

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Ann M. Hendricks, PhD, Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, Bedford, MA
  • Principal Investigator: Bei-Hung Chang, ScD, Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, Bedford, MA

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2003

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 14, 2001

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 15, 2001

First Posted (Estimate)

March 16, 2001

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

April 7, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 6, 2015

Last Verified

February 1, 2007

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IIR 99-241

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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