Fitzhugh, C, Jones, H, Foweather, L, Lip, GYH, Gupta, D, Mills, M and Buckley, B (2025) The Use of Exercise-Based Cardiac Rehabilitation for Patients with Atrial Fibrillation Receiving Catheter Ablation: Protocol For A Feasibility Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) with Embedded Process Evaluation. BMJ Open, 15 (1). ISSN 2044-6055

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Abstract

Introduction: Atrial fibrillation (AF) affects approximately 2.5% of the UK population, with a risk of 1 in 3-5 individuals after the age of 45 years. The global prevalence has risen sharply in the past two decades, from 33.3 million to 59 million individuals living with AF, and is associated with stroke, heart failure, and mortality. Catheter ablation is commonly used for symptomatic patients to restore normal rhythm. An ongoing Cochrane review with the inclusion of small randomised controlled trials has demonstrated that exercise training may induce positive effects on exercise capacity, AF burden, and quality of life. No known previous research has investigated the feasibility of delivering exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for atrial fibrillation patients receiving catheter ablation within usual care in the UK. Methods and analysis: A two-armed feasibility randomised controlled trial (RCT) with embedded process evaluation will be undertaken as a phased programme of work. Patients on a waiting list for catheter ablation will be offered a referral to cardiac rehabilitation. The intervention consists of supervised exercise sessions run by a clinical exercise physiologist and psychoeducation sessions. The trial (n=60) will involve one NHS research site enrolling patients to assess intervention and study design processes. Primary outcomes are recruitment rate, adherence to the exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation and loss to follow-up. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups with patients and clinicians will be used to gather data on acceptability of the intervention and study procedures. Secondary outcome measures will be taken at baseline (preintervention), postintervention and at 6 month follow up and will consist of AF burden, AF recurrence, quality of life, exercise capacity measured by VO2 peak, and echocardiographic parameters.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1103 Clinical Sciences; 1117 Public Health and Health Services; 1199 Other Medical and Health Sciences
Subjects:	R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC1200 Sports Medicine
Divisions:	Sport and Exercise Sciences
Publisher:	BMJ Publishing Group
SWORD Depositor:	A Symplectic
Date Deposited:	27 Jan 2025 10:20
Last Modified:	31 Jan 2025 11:15
DOI or ID number:	10.1136/bmjopen-2024-088460
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/25392

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