Heart Attack Prevention Programme for You (HAPPY) London (HAPPYLondon)

Diseases of the heart and blood vessels, such as heart attacks and strokes, are very common and can lead to severe disability or death. Changes in the body leading to heart attacks and strokes usually develop over decades as a result of smoking, diet, and lack of exercise, obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. Changes in lifestyle and diet can significantly reduce the risk of heart diseases. General Practitioners invite 40 to 74 year-olds who have no known heart disease to take part in the NHS Health Check, which measures each person's individual risk of developing a heart attack or stroke and encourages them in a face-to-face meeting to take part in programmes to help them to give up smoking, lose weight etc. where necessary. In this new clinical trial the investigators will test whether computer-tailored electronic (e)-coaching via email and the internet can help people make the necessary changes in their lifestyle to reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Cardiovascular Disease
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Electronic coaching plus standard care

Detailed Description

Heart Attack Prevention Programme for You London (HAPPY London) will be conducted as a randomised controlled trial comparing the use of tailored e-coaching in addition to the standard of care vs. standard care alone. Standard care is defined as the care that would be offered by the NHS Health Check programme through the NHS primary care. We will use a range of established and novel cardiovascular markers to determine the clinical and cost effectiveness of e-coaching and gain pathophysiological insight into how lifestyle modifications affect the cardiovascular system. These measures include cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR), aortic stiffness parameters, vascular ultrasound and other biomarkers of CV disease risk.

Intervention

The HAPPY London web-based tool will provide the participant with an individualised score for their lifestyle and 10 year CV risk score, based on the modified Framingham score and the UK specific QRisk Score, and provide tailored advice and education on the suboptimal factors. Ideal targets will be set and the information will be updated at 3 and 6 months allowing the participant to view their progress. Weekly emails with brief health and lifestyle advice will be sent to encourage healthier behaviour based on clinical studies or topical issues in the media. Links to social networks, such as Facebook posting and the ability to allow chosen 'buddies' from family or friends to view their progress will aim to further encourage healthier behaviour.

The study involves the recruitment of 400 adults between the age of 40 and 74 years who have a moderate to high 10-year CV risk score (Estimated 10 year CV risk >10%). Half of the study group will receive use of the e-coaching in addition to standard care allocated randomly stratified according to either moderate (QRisk between 10 and 20%) or high risk (QRisk more than or equal to 20%). The initial screening will take place on the www.happylondon.info web-based 'mini-check' questionnaire. Potential participants will then be seen at a physical screening visit to confirm eligibility. 3 subsequent visits will take place over 6 months; baseline, 3 month and 6 month follow up. A subgroup of the study population (65 from each intervention arm thus totalling 130 participants ) will also have a baseline and follow up cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging. Assessment will be performed using a variety of measures through questionnaires, blood pressure (BP) checks, blood tests, ultrasound scans, oscillometric method to assess pulse wave velocity and pulse wave analysis and CMR multi-parametric scanning.

The primary aim of this study is to assess the clinical effectiveness of individualised, continuous electronic (e-) coaching to support a healthier lifestyle as a primary prevention tool to reduce the CV risk and improve the quality of life in asymptomatic individuals with intermediate to high 10 year CV risk.

Other questions that we aim to answer are:

1. Is computer-tailored e-coaching cost-effective in the short-term (clinical trial period) and during the long-term (decision analysis modelling)
2. What are the associations of personality traits, economic preferences, and sociocultural factors with the achieved lifestyle modifications and changes in the cardiovascular phenotype?
3. What is the relationship between changes observed in markers derived from our multi-parametric cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging protocols following lifestyle changes?
4. How frequent are silent myocardial infarctions in a typical NHS Health Check population?
5. Do treatment effects differ between ethnic groups?

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 402
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • London, United Kingdom, E2 9JX
    • Centre for Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging, William Harvey Research Institute, Queen May University of London

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 40 years to 74 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Subjects will be enrolled following an informed consent. The subject will be able to understand and comply with protocol requirements, instructions and protocol-stated restrictions
• Subjects will be between 40 and 74 years of age
• Subjects will have unrestricted access to the Internet
• Subjects will be sufficiently fluent in English language.
• Subjects will have an estimated intermediate to high risk for CV events based on the web-based pre-screening tool (www.happylondon.info), which is based on the nonlaboratory Framingham risk score (>10% 10 year cardiovascular risk)

Exclusion Criteria:

• History of stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA)
• Cardiac sounding chest pain requiring further investigations
• Current life threatening conditions other than vascular disease (e.g. very severe chronic airways disease, HIV positive, life-threatening arrhythmias) that may prevent a subject from completing the study
• Only for subgroup undergoing cardiac contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance studies: Any contraindication to a contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance study, such as known allergies to gadolinium-based contrast agents, severe claustrophobia, pacemakers, defibrillators, etc

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Standard care; Usual care that would be provided by the NHS Health Check or equivalent.
Experimental: Electronic coaching plus standard care; Tailored coaching for participants randomised to use the HAPPY e-coaching tool. Access to lifestyle and heart health scores and personalised advice to improve suboptimal behaviour.	Behavioral: Electronic coaching plus standard care; The HAPPY London web-based tool will provide the participant with an individualised score for their lifestyle and 10 year CV risk score, based mainly on the modified Framingham score, and provide tailored advice and education on the suboptimal factors. Ideal targets will be set and the information will be updated at 3 and 6 months allowing the participant to view their progress. Weekly emails with brief health and lifestyle advice will be sent to encourage healthier behaviour based on clinical studies or topical issues in the media. Links to social networks, such as Facebook posting and the ability to allow chosen family and friends to view their progress will aim to further encourage healthier behaviour.; Other Names: Electronic coaching; E-Coaching; HAPPY E-Coaching

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV)	Change in aortic stiffness using a Vicorder device measured in m/s	Assessed at Baseline visit, 3 months and 6 months; Month 6 reported

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Carotid Intima Media Thickness CIMT	carotid intima media thickness CIMT as measured by ultrasound	Assessed at Baseline visit, 3 months and 6 months; Month 6 reported
Change in Quality of Life	Lifestyle, quality of life and physical activity questionnaires. Questionnaires SF-36, EQ5D-3L, RPAQ.	Assessed at Baseline visit, 3 months and 6 months; Data not reported as full analysis not done due to time constraints
Pulse Wave Velocity by CMR	Change in aortic stiffness as measured by CMR derived aortic pulse wave velocity measured in m/s	Baseline and 6 month. Data not reported as full analysis not possible due to time and resource limitations.
Aortic Distensibility by Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR)	CMR will be performed on 65 participants in the treatment and 65 in the standard care group. Change in aortic stiffness - aortic distensibility (mmHg-1, CMR)).	Baseline and 6 month
Left Ventricular Mass by CMR	Change in LV mass index (g/m2, CMR).	Baseline and 6 month
Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction by CMR	LV end-diastolic and end-systolic volume indices, (ml/m2, CMR), LV EF (%, CMR).	Baseline and 6 month
Myocardial Fibrosis by CMR	Extent and change in diffuse myocardial fibrosis (extracellular volume fraction measured as a %, derived from CMR imaging)	Baseline and 6 month. Baseline and 6 month. Data not reported as full analysis not possible due to time and resource limitations.
Diastolic Function by CMR	Diastolic function (strain and strain rate in % and s-1, respectively derived from CMR imaging data). This is a measure of how stiff the main chamber of the heart is. The software to analyse these data will be available in the future. The raw images from the scan will be used for future analysis once software for this assessment is developed. Our group is working on developing this tool.	Baseline and 6 month. Baseline and 6 month. Data not reported as full analysis not possible due to time and resource limitations.
Change in Framingham Risk Score	Assessment of cardiovascular risk based on the Framingham algorithm. Minimum value 0% and maximum value theoretically 100%. Higher score means worse predicted outcome. Assessment of 10-year cardiovascular risk score based on the Framingham population derived algorithm. Minimum value 0% and maximum value theoretically 100%. Higher score means worse predicted outcome.	Assessed at Baseline visit, 3 months and 6 months; Month 6 reported
Change in QRisk Score	Assessment of cardiovascular risk score based on the QRisk risk score. Minimum value 0% and maximum value theoretically 100%. Higher score means worse predicted outcome. Assessment of cardiovascular risk score based on the UK standardised using the QRISK2 algorithm (www.qrisk.org). Minimum value 0% and maximum value theoretically 100%. Higher score means worse predicted outcome.	Assessed at Baseline visit, 3 months and 6 months; Month 6 reported
Change in Total Cholesterol to HDL Ratio	Ratio of Total cholesterol to HDL from blood test for lipid profile. Change in the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol ratio as assessed though cholesterol blood test. Negative value suggests an improvement.	Assessed at Baseline visit, 3 months and 6 months; Month 6 reported
Change in LDL Cholesterol	Bloods for lipid profile. Change in the level of LDL cholesterol as assessed though cholesterol blood test. Negative value for change suggests an improvement.	Assessed at Baseline visit, 3 months and 6 months; Month 6 reported
Change in Glucose Levels	Fasting glucose bloods. This is an assessment for presence of diabetes and control of blood sugar levels on the day of the test. Change in the blood glucose level as measure on the day of the visit as a measure of blood sugar level. Negative value would suggest an improvement.	Assessed at Baseline visit, 3 months and 6 months; Month 6 reported
Change in hsCRP	baseline and change in hsCRP blood test. hsCRP is measured through a blood test and is a marker of inflammation. Change in the hsCRP level though a blood test. Negative value suggests an improvement.	Assessed at Baseline visit, 3 months and 6 months; Month 6 reported
Change in Physical Activity	Lifestyle, quality of life and physical activity questionnaires. Questionnaires SF-36, EQ5D-3L, RPAQ	Assessed at Baseline visit, 3 months and 6 months; Month 6 reported
Change in Systolic Blood Pressure	Change in systolic blood pressure measured during sitting position	Assessed at Baseline visit, 3 months and 6 months; Month 6 reported
Change in Diastolic Blood Pressure	Change in diastolic blood pressure measure during sitting position.	Assessed at Baseline visit, 3 months and 6 months; Month 6 reported

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Queen Mary University of London
• Collaborators: Barts & The London NHS Trust
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Steffen E Petersen, MD DPhil, Queen Mary University of London

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Khanji MY, Balawon A, Boubertakh R, Hofstra L, Narula J, Hunink M, Pugliese F, Petersen SE. Personalized E-Coaching in Cardiovascular Risk Reduction: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Ann Glob Health. 2019 Jul 12;85(1):107. doi: 10.5334/aogh.2496.
• Khanji MY, Stone IS, Boubertakh R, Cooper JA, Barnes NC, Petersen SE. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease as a Predictor of Cardiovascular Risk: A Case-Control Study. COPD. 2020 Feb;17(1):81-89. doi: 10.1080/15412555.2019.1694501. Epub 2019 Dec 13.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: June 1, 2013
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 1, 2015
• Study Completion (Actual): May 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 22, 2013
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 27, 2013
• First Posted (Estimate): July 30, 2013

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 12, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 17, 2020
• Last Verified: September 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Cardiovascular disease; primary prevention; Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR); Electronic coaching (e-coaching)
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Ischemia; Pathologic Processes; Necrosis; Myocardial Ischemia; Heart Diseases; Vascular Diseases; Infarction; Myocardial Infarction; Cardiovascular Diseases
• Other Study ID Numbers: ReDa: 007711