Recruiting

Passive Heat Therapy

Sponsor:

University of British Columbia

Code:

NCT05962164

Conditions

COPD

Cardiovascular Diseases

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 40+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Passive Heat Therapy

Sham Immersion

Study Details

Brief summary:

People with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) often develop high blood pressure and heart disease due to their sedentary lifestyle and difficulty exercising. The investigators will test if heating can mimic the health benefits of exercise by monitoring the increase in leg blood-flow using ultrasound during a 45-minute hot-water footbath. The patients will then undergo 6-weeks of hot-water footbaths to examine whether the changes to blood-flow lead to improvements in blood pressure and other indicators of heart disease risk.

Conditions

COPD

Cardiovascular Diseases

Study ID

NCT05962164

Start date

Aug 17, 2023

Status verified date

Apr, 2025

Completion date

May 31, 2026

Anticipated

Primary completion date

May 31, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 40+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Non-smoking individuals
  • >40 years of age
  • Stable (exacerbation free for >6 weeks), moderate-to-severe COPD (post bronchodilator FEV1/FVC <lower limit of normal and FEV1 z-score <2.51)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Performing structured exercise training (i.e. pulmonary rehabilitation)
  • Have advanced cardiac or cerebrovascular disease (i.e. a history of heart failure, previous stroke or myocardial infarction)
  • Have uncontrolled hypertension (>160/95 mmHg at rest)
  • Have hypotension (<110/60 mmHg)
  • Are taking Beta Blockers
  • Regularly (>1/week) have hot baths (>30 min) or use a hot tub or sauna.

Exclusion Criteria for exercise outcomes:

  • Have resting blood pressure > 150/95 mmHg
  • On supplemental oxygen for hypoxemia.
  • Musculoskeletal pain that limits their ability to perform stationary cycling.

Study Design

Enrollment

32 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Passive Heat Therapy

Patients with COPD assigned to passive heat therapy will have their lower legs immersed in a circulating hot water (\~42°C) footbath for 45 min per session.

sham comparator: Sham Immersion

Patients with COPD assigned to the sham condition will have their lower legs immersed in a circulating thermoneutral (\~36°C) footbath for 45 min per session.

Interventions

Passive Heat Therapy

The intervention will consist of 6 weeks of repeated (3x/week) 45-min lower-leg immersions.

Sham Immersion

The sham intervention will consist of 6 weeks of repeated (3x/week) 45-min lower-leg immersions.

Primary outcome measure

  • Mean 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure following chronic passive heat therapy [ Time Frame: 6 weeks ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Neil Eves, PhD

(250) 807-9676neil.eves@ubc.ca

Kyla Coates, MSc

(250) 661-7207kyla.coates@ubc.ca

Locations

University of British Columbia

Recruiting

Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, V1V2L2

Contacts

Neil Eves, PhD

250-807-9676neil.eves@ubc.ca

More Information

Sponsor

University of British Columbia

Last update posted

Apr 4, 2025

Last verified

Apr, 2025

Keywords

  • Passive Heat Therapy
  • Pulmonary Rehabilitation
  • Cardiovascular Health

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of British Columbia on 2025-04-04.