Incline Positioning in COVID-19 Patients for Improvement in Oxygen Saturation (UPSAT)

June 2, 2022 updated by: Johns Hopkins University

UPright Incline Positioning in COVID-19 Patients for Oxygen SATuration Improvement With Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure (UPSAT)

COVID-19 is a respiratory illness caused by SARS-CoV-2 with a range of symptoms from mild, self-limiting respiratory tract infections to severe progressive pneumonia, multiorgan dysfunction and death. A portion of individuals with COVID-19 experience life-threatening hypoxia requiring supplemental oxygen and mechanical ventilation. Management of hypoxia in this population is complicated by contraindication of non-invasive ventilation and limitations in access to mechanical ventilation and critical care staff given the clinical burden of disease. Positional therapy is readily deployable and may ultimately be used to treat COVID-19 related respiratory failure in resources limited settings; and, it has been demonstrated to improve oxygenation and is easy to implement in the clinical setting.

The overall goal of this randomized controlled trial is to establish the feasibility of performing a randomized trial using a simple, minimally invasive positional therapy approach to improve hypoxia and reduce progression to mechanical ventilation. The objectives are to examine the effectiveness and feasibility of maintaining an inclined position in patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 associated hypoxemic respiratory failure. The investigators hypothesize that (1) oxyhemoglobin saturation will improve with therapy, (2) participants will tolerate and adhere to the intervention, and that (3) participants who adhere to positional therapy will have reduced rates of mechanical ventilation at 72 hours. If successful, this feasibility trial will demonstrate that a simple, readily deployed nocturnal postural maneuver is well tolerated and reverses underlying defects in ventilation and oxygenation due to COVID-19. It will also inform the design of a pivotal Phase III trial with estimates of sample sizes for clinically relevant outcomes.

Study Overview

Status

Terminated

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Study Design: The investigators will conduct a pilot study to examine the acute effects of inclined posture on oxyhemoglobin saturation and the feasibility of conducting randomized controlled clinical trial among patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19-associated hypoxia.

In a subgroup of participants, the investigators will examine the acute effect of postural therapy (15-degree incline on hospital beds) on oxyhemoglobin saturation among hypoxic patients to establish a biologic response. The investigators will enroll a subset of participants (n=16) who will lie supine on hospital beds, which will be placed in the horizontal (flat) or 15-degree inclined (reverse Trendelenberg) orientation in random order. During this time, the investigators will continuous record pulse oximetry, pulse rate and variations in peripheral arterial tone with WatchPAT one devices. Subjects will be visually monitored for work of breathing during this time. If work of breathing becomes excessive, as defined as a sustain respiratory rate of >25 and an increase of >5 breaths per minute from baseline, or oxygenation decreases below 88% for > 30 seconds in the inclined position, then maneuvers will be stopped. If the patient meets these criteria in the flat position, then the investigators sit the patient upright, and allow breathing to return to baseline before examining responses in the inclined position.

The investigators will randomize participants to have beds placed in 15-degree incline or usual care (ad-lib positioning) for 72 hours. During the first night in a subgroup of participants, the investigators will record oxygenation, sleep wake state and markers of sympathetic activity with WatchPAT One devices, which can obtain cardiopulmonary parameters with high temporal resolution. The investigators will obtain vital signs from the data warehouse, which archives telemetry data with a maximum sampling frequency of 1 minute. The investigators will record adherence with continuous accelerometry sensors placed on the bed rails and on the anterolateral surface of participants' chests to measure bed and participants' positions, respectively. Aside from position, participants will receive usual treatment for COVID-19.

The investigators will enroll in 3 phases. At the end of each phase, the investigators will assess for completion of milestones for proceeding to the subsequent phase, as detailed below:

  1. Pilot Study: The investigators will pilot the study in 16 participants to obtain critical information on logistics of conducting the trial including performance of recording instruments in a biocontainment environment, to examine the feasibility of the intervention, perform preliminary safety evaluations to ascertain potential harm and to determine whether the intervention results in a meaningful difference in body position.
  2. Phase II RCT: If inclined therapy results in a difference in body position and no significant safety issues were detected, the investigators will conduct a phase II randomized-controlled trial (RCT) in 70 participants (see sample size calculation below) to estimate the effect size of inclined position on rates of intubation and determine sample size for a Phase III trial.

Randomization will be occur in both phases and will be stratified by study phase and study site.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

7

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
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21287
        • Johns Hopkins Hospital
      • Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21224
        • Johns Hopkins Bayview Hospital

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:

  • COVID-19 positive
  • Pneumonia defined as hospitalization for acute (< 7 days) onset of symptoms (cough, sputum production, or dyspnea).
  • Hypoxemia defined as ≥ 2 L/min oxygen

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Intubation
  • Inability to lie supine

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

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Postural Positioning
Participants in the group will have hospital beds placed in 15 degree (reverse Trendelenburg).
Other: Postural Positioning
Investigators will adjust the positioning of hospital beds to assess improvements in oxygenation and respiratory status.
No Intervention: Standard Care
Participants in this group will have beds managed per standard nursing protocol.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Incidence of Mechanical Ventilation
Time Frame: 72 hours
Number of participants needing mechanical ventilation over total number of participants per arm.
72 hours

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of participants with supplemental oxygen requirements
Time Frame: 72 hours
Number of participants with supplemental oxygen requirements.
72 hours
Mean oxyhemoglobin saturation
Time Frame: At 24, 48 and 72 hours
Mean oxyhemoglobin saturation (percentage) measured over a 24-hour period.
At 24, 48 and 72 hours
Mean Nocturnal Oxyhemoglobin Saturation
Time Frame: Measured between 10pm and 6am daily, up to 72 hours
Mean oxyhemoglobin saturation (percentage) measured over an 8-hour period (between 10pm and 6am).
Measured between 10pm and 6am daily, up to 72 hours
Heart Rate
Time Frame: At 10, 24, 48 and 72 hours
Heart Rate (beats per minute) on Routine Vital Sign Assessment.
At 10, 24, 48 and 72 hours
Respiratory Rate
Time Frame: At 10, 24, 48 and 72 hours
Respiratory Rate (cycles per minute) on Routine Vital Sign Assessment.
At 10, 24, 48 and 72 hours
Percentage of time in the assigned position
Time Frame: 72 hours
Percentage of time participants stay in the assigned position will be used to determine adherence.
72 hours

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Acute change in oxyhemoglobin saturation
Time Frame: During the final 7 minutes at each position, up to 72 hours
Mean oxyhemoglobin saturation (percentage) during final 7 minutes in a position.
During the final 7 minutes at each position, up to 72 hours

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Johns Hopkins University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Luu Pham, MD, Johns Hopkins University

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 Start (Actual)

May 25, 2020

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2022

Study Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 10, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 10, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

April 14, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 6, 2022

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 2, 2022

Last Verified

June 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IRB00246834

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Access to IPD on reasonable request

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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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