Effects of tele-yoga on individuals with heart failure: a randomised controlled trial with a process evaluation and health technology assessment

Persons with heart failure have a poor quality of life. Medical yoga involving movements, breathing exercises, and meditation can improve physical and mental outcomes. However, persons with heart failure find it difficult to leave home to  attend yoga classes.

Accordingly, we have  co-designed and fesibility-tested a tele-yoga intervention with livestreamed group yoga twice a week and an app to support individual yoga daily.

The primary hypothesis is that tele-yoga increases physical function, quality of life, and mental well-being compared with a control group receiving exercise advice.

The secondary hypotheses are that medical yoga improves sleep, physical activity, cognition and clinical cardiac parameters.

Study design is a randomised controlled trial (RCT) were 300 patients with heart failure from 4 hospitals will be randomised to tele-yoga  or control. So far 200 participants have been included. The intervention will last for 3 months, and data will be collected at baseline, after 3 and 6 months.

Along with the RCT we will perform a process evaluation, a health technology assessment and explore physiological adaptations of yoga.

If tele-yoga is found to be effective on improving outcomes in the heart failure population implementation can be done without further delay.

Facilitators are that a standardised yoga programme is evaluated, many health care professionals are already educated to lead this yogaform and that tele-yoga only requires a tablet or smartphone.