Danish Trial of Weight Loss to Reduce Atrial Fibrillation Progression (DANWRAP)

September 8, 2026 updated by: Axel Brandes

The Danish Trial of Weight Loss to Reduce Atrial Fibrillation Progression

Obesity is an important risk factor for the development and progression of atrial fibrillation. Sustainable weight loss likely reduces the burden of atrial fibrillation, which has yet to be proven in adequately sized randomised trials.

In a national, multicentre randomised trial we will test, whether a sustainable weight loss of more than 10% reduces atrial fibrillation progression and burden in patients with symptomatic paroxysmal or early persistent atrial fibrillation and a body mass index ≥27 kg/m2. A total of 480 patients will be randomised in a 1:1 fashion to either a comprehensive weight loss programme of behavioural support, meal replacement and/or pharmacotherapy with a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist on top of standard care aiming at more than 10% weight loss or standard care alone. Standard care will include guideline-directed anticoagulant therapy for stroke prevention, rate and/or rhythm control treatment, and management of risk factors and underlying cardiovascular conditions. Patients in the standard care group will receive information on weight management, but no active treatment for weight loss. Patients will be enrolled during a period of two and a half years and will be followed for one year with an equal number of study visits in both study arms. All patients will receive a 14-day continuous electrocardiographic monitoring at baseline, four, eight, and 12 months.

The study endpoints will be assessed after a 4-months blanking period from month four to 12 to allow for weight loss. The primary endpoint will be a hierarchical composite of atrial fibrillation progression, symptom burden, and treatment escalation. Secondary endpoints will be a change in weight, total atrial fibrillation burden, quality of life, and metabolic and cardiovascular biomarkers from baseline to 12 months. Safety endpoints will be adverse events related to treatment with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists and weight loss. Endpoint adjudication will be blinded.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

480

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 Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • Denmark
      • Copenhagen, Denmark
      • Esbjerg, Denmark, 6700
        • Esbjerg Hospital - University Hospital of Southern Denmark
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Axel Brandes, M.D.

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:

  • Symptomatic paroxysmal* or persistent** AF
  • Sinus rhythm at inclusion (Visit 1)
  • BMI ≥27 kg/m2
  • Age>18 years

  • At least one 12-lead ECG or other single- or multiple-lead ECG device (e.g. Holter monitor-ing or ECG-providing wearables) documented episode during 6 months prior to inclusion

    * Paroxysmal AF in this trial is defined as at least 2 episodes, either self-terminating or cardioverted within 7 days, during 6 months prior to in-clusion

    **Persistent AF in this study is defined as the following:

  • Duration of an AF episode >7 days and < 6 months
  • Total documented AF history < 5 years

Exclusion criteria:

  • Atrial flutter as the primary arrhythmia. (Patients with previous or isolated episodes of atrial flutter may be included, provided that AF is the dominant arrhythmia and the primary target of clinical management)
  • Implanted electronic device (pacemaker/ICD/ICM)
  • Type 1 diabetes or Type 2 diabetes on insulin treatment
  • Severe heart failure (LVEF <40%)
  • Inability to sign informed consent
  • Severe kidney disease (eGFR<30)
  • History of catheter ablation for AF
  • Scheduled to receive catheter ablation for AF during the study period (next 1 year)
  • Incretin-based therapy (GLP-1 receptor agonists or DPP-IV inhibitors) within 30 days prior to randomization (visit 1)
  • Scheduled for bariatric surgery during the study period
  • Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, ARVC/D, non-compaction or amyloidosis
  • Chronic or previous acute pancreatitis
  • Current participation in any other clinical intervention trial that may result in changes to med-ical management during the study period
  • Women of childbearing potential who are not on an acceptable form of contraception
  • Pregnant or breastfeeding women
  • Personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC)
  • History of MEN2 (Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia type 2)

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
Active Comparator: Intervention
Structured weight loss program including behavioral support and optional meal re-placement or pharmacotherapy with Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP1-RA), aiming for >10% weight loss on top of standard care.
Other: Structured weight loss program including behavioral support and optional meal re-placement or pharmacotherapy with Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP1-RA)

Weight loss period (0-16 weeks):

Behavioural support (first step):

Dietician-guided lifestyle vhanges through virtual meeting, frequency by patient's choice; energy intake 1500 kcal/day; <30% carbohydrates, >=60 g protein/day, adeqaute fiber, 2-2.5 L/day non-caloric fluids.

Escalation strategy (second step):

Meal replacement: available free of charge Pharmacotherapy: Semaglutide once weekly subcutaneous injection Target weight loss >10%; aiming for a 1% weight loss per week during the weight loss period.

Weight loss maintenance period (17-52 weeks):

Maintenance of >10% weigth loss Further lifestyle changes, meal replacement, or dose adjustment of weight loss medication
Other: Control
Standard care, including cardiovascular risk factor management, with visit frequency and follow-up similar to the intervention group.
Other: Standard Care (in control arm)
Guideline-directed cardiovascular risk factor management, including medical treatment and lifestyle counseling.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Hierarchical composite outcome capturing AF progression and AF burden, inte-grating clinical events assessed by blinded adjudication and objective measures of AF burden, assessed by 14-day continuous ECG monitoring
Time Frame: From 4 months to 12 months after enrollment

The hierarchical components of the primary outcome are:

  1. Unplanned contact to a cardiology department or emergency department visit with a primary diagnosis of AF
  2. Unplanned hospital visit for heart failure
  3. High AF burden defined as: AF burden ≥10% (i.e., ≥33.8 hours of cumulative AF) during any of the 14-day ECG monitoring periods at 4, 8, or 12 months
  4. Moderate AF burden defined as: AF burden ≥5% (i.e., ≥16.8 hours of cumulative AF) during any of the 14-day ECG monitoring periods at 4, 8, or 12 months
  5. Planned cardioversion (electrical or pharmacological), including pill-in-the-pocket therapy using Class Ic antiarrhythmic agents (e.g. flecainide)
From 4 months to 12 months after enrollment

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Axel Brandes

Collaborators

Aarhus University Hospital
Rigshospitalet, Denmark
University Hospital Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg
Viborg Regional Hospital
Holbaek Hospital
Regionshospital Nordjylland

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Axel Brandes, M.D., Esbjerg Hospital - University Hospital of Southern Denmark
  • Principal Investigator: Eva Prescott, PhD, University Hospital Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg

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 (Estimated)

October 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

April 1, 2030

Study Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2030

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 8, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 8, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

September 14, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 14, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 8, 2026

Last Verified

September 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • S-20260028

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

IPD Plan Description

Will be decided at a later stage.

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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