# HEART Camp Connect: Promoting Adherence to Exercise in Adults with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · $667,789

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is one of the greatest treatment challenges in
cardiovascular care today. Exercise is one of few treatments shown to benefit adults with HFpEF. Yet, to achieve
and sustain the benefits of exercise, adherence is required. Recent National Heart Lung and Blood Institute
(NHLBI) working groups on HFpEF and exercise in heart failure highlighted high priority areas for future study
including examining strategies and interventions to promote exercise initiation and adherence, testing
interventional mechanisms to improve adherence to exercise, identifying clinically meaningful outcomes for heart
failure trials beyond mortality, and examining longitudinal changes in inflammatory biomarkers to better
understand correlates to clinical status. Our team has successfully tested an intervention [Heart Failure Exercise
and Resistance Training (HEART) Camp] that significantly improves long-term adherence to moderate intensity
exercise (≥120 minutes of exercise at a heart rate reserve of 40-80%) in stable, chronic heart failure. Adherence
was moderated by ejection fraction and a secondary analysis of our HFpEF subgroup showed promising long-
term exercise adherence. We now propose a sufficiently powered randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy
of 2 interventions in achieving long-term exercise adherence in adults with HFpEF. Our overall objectives align
with NHLBI priorities and work toward achieving our long-term goal to promote adherence to exercise in HFpEF:
(a) evaluate the effects of theory-based training and coaching interventions on long-term adherence to exercise,
(b) identify minutes of moderate-intensity exercise that relate to clinically meaningful change in patient-reported
outcomes, (c) evaluate interventional mechanisms and interim clinical events as mediators of adherence
behaviors, and (d) examine the cost of intervention delivery. To meet these objectives, we propose a 3-group
randomized controlled trial to compare 2 interventions, HEART Camp (in-person) to HEART Camp Connect
(virtual) to each other and to enhanced usual care in adults with HFpEF. The proposed study incorporates several
innovations: 1. We are the first to: test the effects of behavioral interventions designed to promote long-term
exercise adherence in HFpEF using an objective measure of adherence, attempt to define a benchmark of
minutes of exercise needed to achieve a clinically meaningful change, and assess exercise intervention cost;
and 2. We incorporate technical innovations including a web application for real-time capture of exercise data,
an innovative analytic approach that examines the influence of interim clinical events on adherence, a HFpEF
algorithm and large-scale inflammatory assays. These innovations challenge the current paradigm and help to
reach new horizons in HFpEF science. Our approach, which combines well-studied theoretical mechanisms
delivered with virtual coaching and...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10829270
- **Project number:** 5R01HL163288-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Windy Williams Alonso
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $667,789
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-04-15 → 2028-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10829270

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10829270, HEART Camp Connect: Promoting Adherence to Exercise in Adults with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (5R01HL163288-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10829270. Licensed CC0.

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