Supervised Pulmonary Hypertension Exercise REhabilitation (SPHERe)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Supervised Pulmonary Hypertension Exercise REhabilitation (SPHERe): a multi-centre randomised controlled trial
IRAS ID
261218
Contact name
Gordon McGregor
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
UHCW NHS Trust
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN10608766
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 2 months, 31 days
Research summary
Pulmonary hypertension is a disabling long-term condition that can greatly reduce quality of life. Breathlessness, fatigue and dizziness are common symptoms. People are often anxious about carrying out normal daily activities. Medical treatment may help some people.
Supervised exercise rehabilitation is a common treatment for many heart and lung conditions. It can improve quality of life and fitness. It also seems to help people with certain types of pulmonary hypertension, but most of these exercise programmes were undertaken as a hospital in-patient. This is not feasible in the NHS, where exercise rehabilitation is an out-patient service.
We want to know if out-patient exercise rehabilitation, combined with motivational support, can improve fitness and quality of life for people with pulmonary hypertension. We are particularly interested in people whose pulmonary hypertension is due to heart or lung disease, because it has not been researched in these groups. We will enrol 352 people with pulmonary hypertension, who agree to be randomly allocated to supervised exercise with motivational support, or to continue with usual care.
The intervention group will complete eight weeks of twice-weekly supervised out-patient exercise rehabilitation delivered within existing NHS services by staff experienced in treating people with heart and lung problems. Motivational support will help reduce anxiety and improve exercise adherence. People in the usual care group will receive general physical activity advice, but not supervised exercise.
From talking to people with pulmonary hypertension, we know that reducing breathlessness and fatigue are important outcomes, as this would help reduce anxiety about daily activities, making it easier to walk further, ‘do more’, and have a better quality of life. We will use a walking test and quality of life questionnaires, over 1 year, to test if exercise rehabilitation helps people with pulmonary hypertension, and represents good value for the NHS.
REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/WM/0155
Date of REC Opinion
13 Jul 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion