Clinical Research Directory

Heart Failure Patient Management and Interventions Using Continuous Patient Monitoring Outside Hospitals and Real-world Data

The goal of this study is to create a digital platform for managing patients with chronic heart failure, those with long-term ventricular assistance, or heart transplant recipients. This platform aims to help doctors make clinical decisions and change treatments based on continuous monitoring and the collection of medical, clinical, physiological, behavioral, psychosocial, and real-world data from these patients. The ultimate goal is to reduce mortality and hospitalization rates for this group of patients while improving their quality of life, safety, and well-being. To do this, participants will be divided into two groups: * Intervention Group: The data collected by the platform will be available to their treating doctors. * Control Group: Doctors will not have access to the data. All participating patients will receive a set of devices and sensors to collect data such as vital signs, physical activity, sleep quality, psychological and nutritional status, and environmental data. All this information will be gathered through a mobile app designed for the study. The follow-up will last for 18 months, during which there will be 4 in-person medical visits (spaced 4 months apart). Participation in the study won't affect patients' scheduled medical visits related to their illness or their usual treatment.

The iPeer2Peer Mentorship Program for Young Adults With Heart Disease

Young adults with heart failure, including those who have undergone a heart transplant, experience considerable psychosocial stressors associated with living with a chronic illness, including heightened levels of anxiety and depression, and poor health-related quality of life compared to 'healthy' peers. Psychosocial challenges during young adulthood are especially concerning as this life stage represents a unique transitional period for fostering self-identity, friendships, mastery, and decision-making competencies. As young people with heart failure transition into adult healthcare systems, they take on greater personal responsibility due to their increasing independence and involvement in care decisions, and require more support and resources to live longer, healthier lives. Peer support provided by a person with a similar experience has been found to improve disease self-management and psychosocial health outcomes in pediatric healthcare. An established, online mentorship program, iPeer2Peer (iP2P), will be employed through a pilot feasibility waitlist randomized controlled trial with repeated measures across five sites. Sixty mentees will be recruited and randomized into intervention and control groups. Thirty mentees in the intervention group will be matched 1:1 with 20 trained mentors. These pairings will connect over 12 weeks through video calls and text messaging to provide peer support to improve self-management and psychosocial health outcomes.