Supervised Exercise and Intermittent Claudication Study (SEIC)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Optimising the efficacy, patient perception and uptake of an exercise programme in people with Intermittent Claudication.
IRAS ID
166996
Contact name
Amy-Elizabeth Harwood
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Hull and East Yorkshire Hospital Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 4 months, 26 days
Research summary
Patients with peripheral arterial disease have a poor blood supply to their lower leg. Many people with PAD develop pain in their legs when they walk, which usually disappears after a few minutes’ rest. The medical term is “intermittent claudication”. The pain usually occurs at a similar distance whilst walking, e.g every 50 yards. Due to the intense pain, many patients with intermittent claudication have to take multiple breaks from daily activities leaving them embarrassed in social situations and reducing general quality of life.
An effective and non-invasive treatment for intermittent claudication is exercise. Robust clinical trials show that supervised exercise is effective at increasing the distances people with intermittent claudication can walk and is better than medical therapy. However, the reason why exercise improves outcome is still unknown. A better understanding of how exercise improves outcomes would help us identify the most effective type of exercise.
Despite the fact supervised exercise classes are effective overall, only about 20% of those patients eligible and likely to benefit from exercise participate in programmes. Little is known about the factors which help or hinder peoples’ participation in exercise for intermittent claudication. Research to better understand why people do or do not participate in these classes may help us to develop programmes with a higher uptake and so greater overall positive impact.
Aims: In this research I aim to investigate how a 12 week exercise programme improves patients’ ability to walk in order to tailor and individualize exercise programmes. Secondly, I will explore why patients do or do not participate in exercise programmes in order to improve uptake.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Leeds West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/YH/0089
Date of REC Opinion
15 Apr 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion