NCT04849806Recruiting
Sympathetic Nerve Activity Predictors in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Dissecting the Nature and Determinants of Sympathetic Nerve Activity in Patients With COPD
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Last updated 28 Jan 2026
Brief summary (registry, in English)
The project will be pursued in our respiratory, autonomic nervous system physiology laboratory (Respiratory, autonomic nervous system physiology laboratory, Department of Pneumology and Intensive Care Medicine, RWTH Aachen University Hospital; Head of Department: Professor Michael Dreher). Overactivity of the sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) axis with "centrally" increased heart rate and peripheral vasoconstriction is a known phenomenon in patients with systolic heart failure (HF) and has recently been described in patients with primary lung disease as seen in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, systematic analyses on this clinically relevant topic are currently lacking. Thus, using a comprehensive, multimodal approach and state-of-the-art technology, this research project is designed to determine the extent and nature of increased SNA in COPD (AIM 1) and evaluate the underlying mechanisms (AIM 2). The project will address the following hypotheses: 1. In COPD, concomitant obstructive sleep apnea is independently associated with increased SNA. 2. Precapillary pulmonary hypertension (PH), inspiratory muscle dysfunction and systemic inflammation describe a COPD phenotype characterised by increased SNA with a different subtype.
- Status (registry)
- Recruiting
- Study type
- Observational
- Enrollment
- 135 (estimated)
- First submitted
- 15 Apr 2021
- Start date
- 10 May 2022
- Primary completion date
- Dec 2028
- Lead sponsor
- RWTH Aachen University
- Diseases
- COPD
- NCT number
- NCT04849806
What you commit to
- Study type: Observational
- Planned participants: 135
- From 10 May 2022 to the primary completion date, Dec 2028
- 1 site in 1 country
- Visits and tests: ask the trial team, the registry does not list them
Built from the registry fields of ClinicalTrials.gov. It describes the study, not your situation.
Who cannot take part
Copied verbatim from ClinicalTrials.gov and grouped by topic. Only the trial team decides who can take part.
Prior treatment
- In-patient stay in the hospital within the last 4 weeks prior to the study examination date
Other illness
- Active pacing of the heart by a cardiac pacemaker (i.e. no intrinsic heart rate)
- Clinically pre-established cardiovascular disease (e.g. arterial hypertension or systolic heart failure)
Other
- Atrial fibrillation
Who the study is looking for
- Age ≥ 18
- Ability and willingness to give informed consent to participate in the study
Age in the registry: 18 years to - · Sex: All · Accepts healthy volunteers
Sites (1)
Sites in registry order. Pick your city on the disease page to sort them by distance.
| Site | City | Country | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|
| RWTH Aachen University Coordinator of this site? Confirm its status | Aachen | Germany | Recruiting |
This page is information, not medical advice. Discuss any trial with your doctor.