EU-CaRE stands for a EUropean study on effectiveness and sustainability of current Cardiac Rehabilitation programmes in the Elderly.

eucare

Introduction

This project “EU-CaRE” is funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union and the government of Switzerland. Horizon 2020 is the European Union programme to promote European research and innovation. The grant application submitted by EU-CaRE was rated excellent by the European Commission. The success rate for the respective funding round in which EU-CaRE participated was only 5.9%.

The aim of EU-CaRE is to improve quality of life and independency of elderly coronary patients (≥ 65 years old). A network of  leading European experts from seven countries and 8 institutes have started this project in order to compare, improve and tailor cardiac rehabilitation programmes for these patients (EU-CaRE trial). Moreover, with the results of this trial we expect to gain important information about the effectiveness of currently available cardiac rehabilitation programmes for elderly people, with regard to recruitment strategies, sustainability, level of adherence/drop out and the cost effectiveness. Lastly, the e-technology will be tested in a randomized control study (EU-CaRE RCT trial).

EU-CaRE

EU-CaRE trial is a multicenter (8 centers), multinational (7 countries), prospective cohort trial looking at the (cost) effectiveness, sustainability and participation levels of current European Cardiac Rehabilitation programmes in elderly (≥ 65 year).

Objectives

  1. To compare the sustainable effectiveness of 8 European CR programmes in the elderly population with respect to physical fitness, cardiovascular risk factor control, general health and utilisation of care, adherence and cost-effectiveness.
  2. To identify the main individual and center related predictors for sustainable effective CR programs, defined as lasting improvement of physical, mental and social outcomes in elderly patients (≥65 years).
  3. To define the core components for effective recruitment of elderly patients (≥ 65 year) into CR programs.

Primary endpoint

Primary endpoint is a difference in peak oxygen uptake (VO2 peak) from an incremental exercise test (T1-T0).

Sample size

During 2 years the aim is to include 220 patients per center resulting in a total of 1760 patients. The first patient was included in September 2015 in Isala medical centre (Zwolle), the Netherlands. 

Clinical investigators

Prof. Eva Prescott MD, PhD (Department of Cardiology, Bispebjerg University Hospital Copenhagen (part of Region Hovedstaden), Denmark)

Clinical trial information

Trialregister.nl

Main publications

EU-CaRE, A EUropean study on effectiveness and sustainability of current Cardiac Rehabilitation programmes in the Elderly, HORIZON2020
https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/sil/impact/2017/00002017/00000010/art00010

Cardiac rehabilitation in the elderly patient in 8 rehabilitation units in Western Europe. Baseline data from the EU-CaRE multicentre observational study.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30924688

Ruano-Ravina A, Pena-Gil C, Abu-Assi E et al. Participation and adherence to cardiac rehabilitation programs. A systematic review. Int J Cardiol. 2016;223:436-43.

A EUropean study on effectiveness and sustainability of current Cardiac Rehabilitation programmes in the Elderly: Design of the EU-CaRE randomised controlled trial. Prescott E, Meindersma EP, van der Velde AE et al. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2016 Oct;23:27-40.

Horizon 2020

This project is funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union

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