Pathways to Healthy Living: A Physical Activity Promotion Intervention for Black Women with Cardiovascular Disease
Despite advances in cardiovascular care, cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death among Black women in the United States. Black women are disproportionately affected with significantly higher morbidity and three times higher mortality rates compared to women of any other race. Strong evidence indicates that improved participation in physical activity (PA) has an inverse dose-response relationship to mortality with substantially greater benefits in those with CVD. Despite the known benefits of PA in CVD, initiation and adherence to PA is particularly low among Black women in the US. A major reason for poor adoption of physical activity behaviors among Black women with CVD is that most interventions are designed with no structured analysis of target behaviors and without taking into regard the cultural and social environment of the population. We seek to find ways to mitigate the consequences of the disease by gaining a deeper understanding of perceived barriers in disease management and using behaviorally informed strategies to mitigate risk of poor health outcomes.
We are looking for women over 18 years of age who self-identify as Black and non-Hispanic, and who have been diagnosed with a heart condition to participate in a zoom interview to investigate personal experiences of Black women living with heart disease and the perceived challenges living with and managing their heart disease.
Reach out to Dr. Shweta Gore via email or phone and a member of the study team will provide more information on the study.
Participate
Comparison of Telehealth and Onsite Supervised Maintenance Exercise Programs for Adults with Chronic Lung Disease: A Pilot Randomized Trial.
Chronic Lung Disease (CLD), such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), interstitial lung disease, and chronic asthma, contributes significantly to the global burden of disease. Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) is a well-recognized cost-effective intervention for improving exercise capacity, quality of life, and reducing hospitalizations in individuals with CLD. However, the benefits of traditional PR rapidly decline without ongoing maintenance. Given the barriers associated with access to onsite PR programs, we are investigating if supervised maintenance exercise programs can be delivered effectively via telehealth and if remotely delivered supervised maintenance offers similar benefits compared to onsite maintenance.
We are seeking participants 40 years or older with physician diagnosed CLD who have had experience participating in an outpatient rehabilitation, are able to walk independently with or without the use of mobility devices, and who have access to zoom video conferencing.
Reach out to Dr. Shweta Gore via email or phone and a member of the study team will provide more information on the study.
Participate
Functional Biomarkers for Prediction of Hospitalization, Long-Term Care Placement, and Mortality in Older Adults with Cardiometabolic Multimorbidity.
Cardiometabolic multimorbidity (CMM) in older adults represents the largest cause of morbidity and mortality both in the United States. Recent multimorbidity research has demonstrated the need to include an examination of physical and functional status on their influence on health outcomes, rather than relying on a mere addition of diseases. Since the impact of multimorbidity on health outcomes is notably influenced by physical function, examination of reliable functional biomarkers -gait speed and hand-grip strength is critical. However, in older adults with CMM, the prognostic value of gait speed and hand-grip strength has not been examined.
This study aims to
- Characterize risk profiles of older adults in the four pre-identified mutually exclusive CMM clusters using sociodemographic characteristics, gait speed, hand-grip strength, and health outcomes (hospitalizations, long-term placement, and mortality)
- Identify and compare rates of change in functional biomarkers between groups by examining trajectories of gait speed and hand-grip strength within the four pre-identified mutually exclusive CMM clusters over a period of 5 years and
- To establish gait speed and hand-grip strength cut-off points for 1) risk of hospitalization, 2) long-term care placement and 3) mortality in the four mutually exclusive CMM clusters, and determine the sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios of the identified cut points.
