Cardiac Rehabilitation in Heart Failure and Sarcopenia

November 17, 2025 updated by: Ebru Alemdaroğlu, Ankara City Hospital Bilkent

The Effect of a Cardiac Rehabilitation Program Including Moderate-Intensity Continuous Exercise Training and High-Intensity Interval Exercise Training on Sarcopenia and Myokines in Patients With Heart Failure

In this study, it is aimed to investigate the effects of a cardiac rehabilitation program consisting of two different aerobic exercise modalities on aerobic capacity, symptoms, quality of life, and sarcopenia in patients with heart failure who present with one or more symptoms such as dyspnea, difficulty walking, muscle weakness, or limitations in activities of daily living and who are in need of cardiac rehabilitation.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Patients who were followed up in the Heart Failure Clinic, aged 18-75, had stable clinical symptoms, and were referred to Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Unit for the cardiac rehabilitation program and met the inclusion criteria will be included in our study.

Prior to initiating the program, participants will be prescribed an individualized exercise regimen determined to be both effective and safe, based on their exercise capacity assessed through the CPET-derived optimal exercise prescription. For the MCT group, the program includes a 5-minute warm-up at 30% of VO₂max, followed by 20 minutes of continuous exercise at 60% of VO₂max, and a 5-minute cool-down at 30% of VO₂max.

For the HIIT group, the first week consists of three sessions including a 5-minute warm-up at 30% of VO₂max, 20 minutes of exercise at 60% of VO₂max, and a 5-minute cool-down at 30% of VO₂max. Starting from the second week, interval training will be implemented as follows: 5 sessions of 20 minutes with intervals alternating between 65-80% of VO₂max for 60 seconds and 50% of VO₂max for 120 seconds; 5 sessions of 20 minutes alternating 65-80% of VO₂max for 120 seconds and 50% of VO₂max for 120 seconds; and 5 sessions of 20 minutes alternating 65-80% of VO₂max for 240 seconds and 50% of VO₂max for 180 seconds.

Both groups will be completed a total of 18 sessions over 6 weeks, with training occurring three times per week. Resistance training exercises will be incorporated into the programs in both groups after the second week. Load increments of 5 watts will be applied based on patient tolerance.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

22

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

  • Turkey (Türkiye)
    • Çankaya
      • Ankara, Çankaya, Turkey (Türkiye), 06800
        • Ankara Bilkent City 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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Patients aged 18-75 years heart failure (HF) NYHA class II-III left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) <0.40, BMI between 18-30 kg/m² standard medications at stable doses for at least two weeks prior to enrollment

-

Exclusion Criteria:

a history of cardiac implant device placement within the previous 6 weeks a planned cardiac device implantation heart transplantation within the next 12 months acute coronary syndrome within the prior 6 weeks severe valvular or congenital heart disease severe hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy acute myocarditis or pericarditis intracardiac thrombus primary pulmonary hypertension peripartum cardiomyopathy uncontrolled hypertension (systolic blood pressure >200 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure >110 mmHg) severe arrhythmias.

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: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: HIIT (high intensity interval training)
For the HIIT group, the first week consists of three sessions including a 5-minute warm-up at 30% of VO₂max, 20 minutes of exercise at 60% of VO₂max, and a 5-minute cool-down at 30% of VO₂max. Starting from the second week, interval training will be implemented as follows: 5 sessions of 20 minutes with intervals alternating between 65-80% of VO₂max for 60 seconds and 50% of VO₂max for 120 seconds; 5 sessions of 20 minutes alternating 65-80% of VO₂max for 120 seconds and 50% of VO₂max for 120 seconds; and 5 sessions of 20 minutes alternating 65-80% of VO₂max for 240 seconds and 50% of VO₂max for 180 seconds.
Other: HIIT (high intensity interval training)
For the HIIT group, the first week consists of three sessions including a 5-minute warm-up at 30% of VO₂max, 20 minutes of exercise at 60% of VO₂max, and a 5-minute cool-down at 30% of VO₂max. Starting from the second week, interval training will be implemented as follows: 5 sessions of 20 minutes with intervals alternating between 65-80% of VO₂max for 60 seconds and 50% of VO₂max for 120 seconds; 5 sessions of 20 minutes alternating 65-80% of VO₂max for 120 seconds and 50% of VO₂max for 120 seconds; and 5 sessions of 20 minutes alternating 65-80% of VO₂max for 240 seconds and 50% of VO₂max for 180 seconds
Experimental: MCT (moderate intensity continuous training)
For the MCT group, the program will be included a 5-minute warm-up at 30% of VO₂max, followed by 20 minutes of continuous exercise at 60% of VO₂max, and a 5-minute cool-down at 30% of VO₂max.
Other: MCT (moderate intensity continuous training)
For the MCT group, the program will be included a 5-minute warm-up at 30% of VO₂max, followed by 20 minutes of continuous exercise at 60% of VO₂max, and a 5-minute cool-down at 30% of VO₂max.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
VO2 max
Time Frame: Day 1 and 6th week
The maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) in Cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET)
Day 1 and 6th week

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Myostatin
Time Frame: Day 1 and 6th week
Day 1 and 6th week
BDNF
Time Frame: Day 1 and 6th week
Day 1 and 6th week

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Ankara City Hospital Bilkent

Collaborators

Saglik Bilimleri Universitesi Gulhane Tip Fakultesi

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)

August 1, 2022

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 30, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

February 1, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 13, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 17, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

November 24, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 24, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 17, 2025

Last Verified

November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • E2-24-7194

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

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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