Cardiac cachexia - an exploratory study (v.1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploratory study of the prevalence & experience of cardiac cachexia within a population of people with advanced heart failure in Northern Ireland.
IRAS ID
258363
Contact name
Donna Fitzsimons
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen's University Belfast
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 24 days
Research summary
Cachexia is a wasting disorder associated with a number of chronic diseases, including advanced heart failure (termed cardiac cachexia). Patients suffering from cachexia experience a loss of appetite and severe weight loss, increasing the risk of premature death. Furthermore, the condition reduces quality of life for patients, their families and caregivers. Overall, cachexia is a poorly understood and relatively understudied condition, particularly in those patients with advanced heart failure. As such, health care professionals lack guidance on how to identify and treat cardiac cachexia within clinical practice. This exploratory study therefore comprises three main phases, aimed at increasing understanding of this condition and improving patient care.
Phase 1: Consenting advanced heart failure patients (n=362) will complete 3 measurements of muscle and three validated questionnaires, focusing on quality of life, fatigue and appetite. Patients medical records will also be accessed to obtain data relevant to the study, such as weight and blood marker records. This will allow us to determine clinical implications of the condition and the first prevalence rate for cardiac cachexia in Northern Ireland.
Phase 2: It is also important to understand how patients who have the condition and their carers feel about it, and its possible effect on daily life. Therefore, phase 2 will focus on patient and carer interviews that explore their experiences. We will interview approximately 12 patients and separately their carers (n=12), before qualitatively analysing the data to identify important themes within their experience.
Phase 3: Two separate workshops will be organised, one for participants of phase 2 and one for healthcare professionals. These workshops will be used to discuss the findings and agree implications for practice and further research. It is hoped that this discussion will include targeted interventions to improve patients’ quality of life at the end of life.
REC name
HSC REC B
REC reference
19/NI/0092
Date of REC Opinion
28 May 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion