PERCEIVE-Outreach: A Scalable, Risk-Based Model for Managing Persistent Cardiovascular Impact in Long COVID

Persistent Cardiovascular Effects of COVID-19 Viral Infection Trial (PERCEIVE)-Outreach: A Scalable, Risk-Based Model for Managing Persistent Cardiovascular Impact in Long COVID

Some people who had COVID-19 continue to have symptoms for weeks, months, or even years after their infection. This is often called "Long COVID" or Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC). For some people, Long COVID can affect the heart and lungs, making it harder to exercise or carry out daily activities. It can also affect mental health and quality of life.

This study is testing a new care model called PERCEIVE-Outreach, designed to help people living with Long COVID who may have ongoing heart or lung problems. The model involves three parts:

1. Screening: A simple assessment to identify people most likely to benefit from further care, based on symptoms and activity levels.
2. Clinical review: A thorough check of heart and lung health conducted remotely via telehealth.
3. Personalised exercise program: A tailored program to help improve fitness and reduce time spent sitting, delivered entirely via telehealth.

The main thing this study is measuring is whether participants can walk further after 6 months compared to when they started (measured using a 6-minute walk test), which correlates well with an individuals ability to complete normal daily functions. The study will also look at quality of life, mental health, physical activity, heart function, and hospital visits over 2 years.

The study is designed with input from patients and healthcare providers to ensure it meets real-world needs. All care is delivered remotely, meaning participants can take part from home anywhere in Australia.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Long COVID
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: PERCEIVE-Outreach Intervention

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 577
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Quan Huynh, PhD; Phone Number: +61 03 8532 1833; Email: quan.huynh@utas.edu.au; quan.huynh@baker.edu.au

Study Locations

• Australia
  • Tasmania
    • Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 7009
      • Recruiting
      • Menzies Insititute for Medical Research
      • Contact: Quan Huynh, PhD; Phone Number: +61 03 8532 1833; Email: quan.huynh@utas.edu.au
  • Victoria
    • Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3004
      • Not yet recruiting
      • Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute
      • Contact: Tom Marwick, MD, MPH, PhD; Phone Number: +61385321550; Email: tom.marwick@baker.edu.au

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Aged forty years or older
• Impaired estimated functional capacity using DASI as proxy (defined by age-normative metabolic equivalent of tasks [METs])
• History of COVID-19 (stratified by hospital admission)
• Currently symptomatic with fatigue, dyspnoea or chest pain symptoms
• Medicare eligibility
• Ability and willingness to provide written informed consent to participate in the study. The patient will need to be able to communicate fluently with the investigator. The investigator will need to be satisfied that the patient understands the study by having them explain the study plan back to the investigator.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Unable to provide written informed consent to participate in this study
• Participating in another research trial where randomized treatment would be unacceptable
• Mobility impairment that would impact participants' ability to perform exercise
• History of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)
• Known valvular stenosis or regurgitation of >moderate severity, history of previous heart failure (baseline New York Heart Association [NYHA] >2)
• Oncologic (or other) life expectancy <12 months or any other medical condition (including pregnancy) that results in the belief (deemed by the Chief Investigators) that it is not appropriate for the patient to participate in this trial

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention; Participants receive a comprehensive, remotely delivered care program in addition to usual care. This includes: (1) medication review and optimisation for heart protection where appropriate; (2) personalised mental health support from a psychologist; (3) telehealth coaching from cardiac nurses; and (4) a 24-week personalised exercise program delivered via the Smartphone Cardiac Rehabilitation, Assisted self-Management (SCRAM) digital platform, using a Polar wearable sensor for real-time monitoring. The exercise program includes a 12-week supervised phase with live physiologist support, followed by a 12-week self-managed phase with app-based guidance. Participants also work to reduce sitting time through regular short activity breaks prompted by the app.	Other: PERCEIVE-Outreach Intervention; Participants receive a comprehensive, remotely delivered care program in addition to usual care. This includes: (1) medication review and optimisation for heart protection where appropriate; (2) personalised mental health support from a psychologist; (3) telehealth coaching from cardiac nurses; and (4) a 24-week personalised exercise program delivered via the SCRAM digital platform, using a Polar wearable sensor for real-time monitoring. The exercise program includes a 12-week supervised phase with live physiologist support, followed by a 12-week self-managed phase with app-based guidance. Participants also work to reduce sitting time through regular short activity breaks prompted by the app.
No Intervention: Usual Care; Participants receive a personalised risk factor report following baseline assessment and a cardiology review, and are encouraged to discuss findings and recommended lifestyle changes with their GP. No additional study interventions are provided. All medical management remains at the discretion of the participant's usual care team. Participants whose exercise capacity remains abnormal at 12 months are offered the opportunity to cross over to the intervention arm.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Changes in 6-min walk distance (6MWD) at 6 months	6MWD in metres	From enrolment until the 6-month visit

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in 6MWD at 12 and 24 months	6MWD in metres	From enrolment until the 12- and 24-month visits, each.
Change in Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL) 8D at 12 & 24 months	Publicly accessible Australian utility score (online); range 0.06 (worse) to 1.00 (better)	From enrolment until the 12- and 24-month visits, each.
Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9 at 12 & 24 months;	Range 0 (less depressive symptoms) to 27 (more depressive symptoms)	From enrolment until the 12- and 24-month visits, each.
International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) short form at 12 & 24 months	Range 0 to over 20,000 MET-minutes/week; Low: Under 600 MET-minutes/week; Moderate: 600 to 2,999 MET-minutes/week; High: 3,000+ MET-minutes/week	From enrolment until the 12- and 24-month visits, each.
Sedentary-break adherence measured by Smartphone Cardiac Rehabilitation, Assisted self-Management (SCRAM)	Sedentary-break adherence will be assessed using SCRAM-recorded activity-break completion, including the number of 3-minute sitting breaks completed per day and total daily activity-break duration in minutes/day. The intervention target is 30 minutes/day of activity breaks, equivalent to 10 breaks/day. Higher values indicate greater adherence to sedentary-time interruption.	From enrolment until the 12- and 24-month visits, each.
Change in cardiac function measured by transthoracic echocardiography at 12 & 24 months	Left ventricular dysfunction will be assessed using resting 2-dimensional and Doppler transthoracic echocardiography. Left ventricular dysfunction will be defined as any of the following: left ventricular ejection fraction <40%, reduced left ventricular global longitudinal strain ≤16%, diastolic dysfunction, or left ventricular hypertrophy. Diastolic dysfunction will be assessed using mitral inflow velocities, E/A ratio, mitral annular e' velocities, E/e' ratio, left atrial volume index, and tricuspid regurgitation velocity. Left ventricular hypertrophy will be defined as left ventricular mass index >95 g/m² in women and >115 g/m² in men. The outcome will be reported as the number of participants meeting criteria for left ventricular dysfunction at follow-up and/or developing new left ventricular dysfunction from baseline.	From enrolment until the 12- and 24-month visits, each.
Incidence of cardiovascular over the 24-month trial period	Cardiovascular hospitalisation will be assessed as the number of participants admitted to hospital for a cardiovascular cause, including heart failure, acute coronary syndrome, arrhythmia, stroke, venous thromboembolism, or other cardiovascular events.	From enrolment until the 12- and 24-month visits, each.
Incidence of all-cause hospitalisation over the 24-month trial period	All-cause hospitalisation will be assessed as the number of participants admitted to hospital for any cause during the follow-up period.	From enrolment until the 12- and 24-month visits, each.
Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of the care model	Cost-effectiveness will be assessed using the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, calculated as the difference in costs between study groups divided by the difference in health outcomes. Costs will be reported in Australian dollars. Health outcomes may include quality-adjusted life years derived from health-related quality-of-life data. Lower incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year gained indicates greater cost-effectiveness.	From enrolment until the 12- and 24-month visits, each.
Post-exertional malaise measured by the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire - Post-Exertional Malaise	Post-exertional malaise will be assessed using the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire - Post-Exertional Malaise. Frequency and severity items are scored on 5-point Likert scales from 0 to 4, with higher scores indicating more frequent or more severe post-exertional malaise. Prevalence of post-exertional malaise and change in symptom burden from baseline will be reported.	From enrolment until the 12- and 24-month visits, each.
Change in peak oxygen consumption (peakVO2) at 12 and 24 months	Measured in mL/kg/min	From enrolment until the 12- and 24-month visits, each.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Tasmania
• Collaborators: Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute; Ochre Health

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): April 1, 2029
• Study Completion (Estimated): April 1, 2029

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 26, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 16, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): June 22, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 22, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 16, 2026
• Last Verified: June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Exercise; Australia; Cardiovascular; Long COVID; Rural Health; PERCEIVE-Outreach; PERCEIVE
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Post-Infectious Disorders; COVID-19; Pathologic Processes; Chronic Disease; Disease Attributes; Respiratory Tract Infections; Infections; RNA Virus Infections; Virus Diseases; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Lung Diseases; Pneumonia, Viral; Pneumonia; Coronavirus Infections; Coronaviridae Infections; Nidovirales Infections; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Behavior; Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome; Motor Activity
• Other Study ID Numbers: 49-26

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