Clinical Research Directory

In-Person, Online, and Hybrid Healthy-Aging Education for Pre-Frailty and Frailty in Older Adults

The goal of this clinical trial is to determine whether a 6-month healthy-aging education program delivered in person, online, or in a hybrid format reduces frailty and is cost-effective compared with usual care in community-dwelling adults aged 65 years or older with pre-frailty or frailty. The main questions are: * Do the three educational programs, considered together, reduce the prespecified 40-item Frailty Index (40-FI) at 6 months more than usual care? * Are effects maintained 6 months after the programs end? * How do the in-person, online, and hybrid educational programs differ in multidomain frailty outcomes, implementation, costs, and quality-adjusted life-years? * Are changes in prespecified blood biomarkers and gut microbiota associated with changes in frailty and related outcomes? The study will enroll 276 participants. Randomization will occur at household level so that enrolled cohabitants receive the same assignment. Households will be allocated to in-person education, online education, hybrid education, or usual care. All three educational programs address physical activity, nutrition, cognitive and emotional well-being, and social connection. Assessments will occur at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months; blood and stool samples will be collected at baseline and 6 months. The trial will compare the average effect of the three active programs with usual care and will estimate modality-specific clinical and economic outcomes.

Frailty Improvement Through Technology With Informal Caregiver Supported Exercise (FITWISE) for Pre-frail and Frail Community-dwelling Older Adults

The goal of this pilot trial is to evaluate the feasibility and potential effectiveness of a caregiver-mediated, technology-facilitated home-based intervention named Frailty Improvement through Technology With Informal Caregiver Supported Exercise (FITWISE) for pre-frail and frail community-dwelling older adults aged 60 years and older. Frailty is associated with reduced physical function, increased risk of falls, and higher healthcare utilization among older adults. Home-based interventions supported by informal caregivers and facilitated by digital technology may help improve exercise participation and health outcomes in this population. The main questions this study aims to answer are: 1. Whether the FITWISE intervention is feasible in terms of recruitment, participant engagement, adherence, retention, and safety. 2. Whether the FITWISE intervention improves physical performance and other health-related outcomes among pre-frail and frail community-dwelling older adults. Researchers will compare two intervention groups with a control group to determine whether the FITWISE intervention improves health outcomes. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: * Intervention Group A: Caregiver-mediated multi-component exercise supported by an exergaming system. * Intervention Group B: The same exercise program with additional caregiver-delivered psychosocial support. * Control Group: General health education and usual activities without the FITWISE intervention. The intervention will last 24 weeks and will include an active 12-week intervention phase followed by a 12-week maintenance phase. Outcome measures such as physical performance, frailty status, cognitive function, social support, quality of life, and selected health indicators will be assessed at baseline and after the intervention.

Exploratory Study on a Multi-nutrient Supplement and Exercise Program for Improving Health Markers Associated to Longevity in Pre-frail Adults

Frailty is associated with biological changes in the gut microbiome and immune system, along with marked declines in physical and cognitive function, leading to an overall reduction in quality of life. Prefrailty represents an early stage where interventions may prevent or reverse these declines. This study aims to evaluate whether a 12-week combined Synbiotic enriched oral nutritional supplement and supervised exercise program can improve muscle strength and mass, gut microbiome composition, immune function, and cognitive performance in prefrail adults aged 50-80 years.

The Effect of Pectin Supplementation on Geriatric With Frailty: A Randomised Placebo-Controlled Dietary Intervention Study

The study involves the intake of Low-methoxy (LM) pectin (polysaccharides extracted from citrus peels), which are commonly found in the UK diet (not pharmacological agents), to test their effects on systematic inflammation in the body and gut microbiome composition. Study subjects will be healthy elderly with early signs of frailty or pre-frailty from the local population and will be asked to attend the laboratory on 2 occasions; before and after 4-week' supplementing the diet daily with either 10g of pectin with 10g of whey protein and 10g of cocoa powder added as flavour (active arm) or 10g of whey protein with 10g of cocoa powder added as flavour (placebo). Participants will be given the blinded products portioned in individual sachets, with instructions to add the contents of one sachet a day to 150ml of milk and to consume immediately. At each study visit (\~90 minutes), participants will be asked to provide a stool and blood sample, will have blood pressure, heart rate, weight, height, and waist/hip ratio measured, research team will perform physical functioning test (Time up and go test, 30-second sit to stand test) as well as participants will complete the quality-of-life questionnaire (SF-36), the Depression and Anxiety (HADS) and the Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS).