Use of EL-FIT App to Promote Physical Activity

University of Pittsburgh

Status: Completed

Conditions: Cirrhosis, Liver; End Stage Liver DIsease

Treatments: Behavioral: Fitness intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04604860

STUDY19020063

Details and patient eligibility

About

Transplant-eligible patients with cirrhosis and ESLD, age 40-70, MELD >/= 10 referred to transplant physical therapy will be invited to participate. The investigators will exclude those who lack a smartphone or the understanding of its functionality, lack home wireless internet, or have recurrent/persistent overt hepatic encephalopathy. Following signing of informed consent, each participant will be given a Fitbit Charge 3 and have EL-FIT and Fitbit apps downloaded to their smartphone. After a brief session with a member of the research team explaining the basic components and functionality of EL-FIT and Fitbit, patients will be provided with general physical activity recommendations (as per our current standard of care) and asked to explore all features of EL-FIT and Fitbit apps, up until their 12-week follow-up visit. Phone calls to incentivize physical activity and exercise will be performed by members of the research team.

Full description

The study consists of two visits, baseline and 12-week follow-up, with at least one follow-up phone call on a weekly basis. Visit one is expected to last for 30 minutes and visit 2 for 60 minutes, whereas each phone call should take no more than 15 minutes. Twice during the study period, the investigators will draw serum and plasma samples for future translational research. Daily, the physical trainer will review collected data on EL-FIT research database and Fitabase. Each participant will have an exit interview by the end of week 12 with the trainer and a member of the research team to talk about their impressions of using EL-FIT and Fitbit, through a structured questionnaire assessing about how user friendly it was to use the EL-FIT app. Finally, trainers will be asked to compare the type of prescription that they provided to patients as part of the standard of care (based on liver frailty index or 6-minute walk test), to compare it with the allocation provided by EL-FIT stratification algorithm.

To learn about how to improve EL-FIT the investigators will ask patients and their caregivers open-ended questions as part of their exit interview. This will allow us to identify barriers precluding them from keeping up with physical trainer recommendations, and what would they like to include to enhance motivation as part of a physical activity program. A member of the research team will act as a facilitator during this session.

Enrollment: 59 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 40 to 70 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• cirrhosis and ESLD
• transplant eligible
• MELD >/=10
• referred to transplant physical therapist

Exclusion criteria

• those who lack a smartphone or the understanding of its functionality
• lack home wireless internet
• have recurrent/persistent overt hepatic encephalopathy

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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59 participants in 1 patient group

EL-FIT

Experimental group

Description:

Patients using the EL-FIT app

Treatment:

Behavioral: Fitness intervention