The PREPARE for COVID Trial

Background:More than 6.5 million Canadians are \> 65 years of age. Over half of older Canadians live with multiple comorbidities, leaving them at high risk of adverse outcomes of COVID-19. Social isolation and physical distancing orders are especially important to protect the health of this high-risk population. Vulnerable older Canadians are also at high risk of physical and mental health deterioration caused by the physical distancing meant to protect them from COVID-19. Effective management of the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences will require evidence-based strategies to support isolated vulnerable older Canadians. Exercise interventions can reduce the adverse health effects of social isolation and demonstrate larger effect sizes in older people with comorbidities. However, no exercise interventions have been tested in an acute isolation scenario such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which also requires that exercise interventions be home-based and remotely supported, presenting unique challenges to participation and adherence. Our team is uniquely positioned re-orient proven and robust programming, supported by a national network of investigators and existing infrastructure. We can immediately launch a large-scale trial to test the effectiveness of a remotely supported home exercise program (designed in partnership with vulnerable older Canadians) to mitigate the negative consequences of physical distancing to keep older Canadians healthy and safe from COVID-19. We hypothesize that participation in the PREPARE program will decrease the individual, health system and population health impacts of COVID19 induced physical distancing and social isolation. Research aims:Estimate the effectiveness of a remotely supported, home-based multimodal exercise program for older people with multiple comorbidities to improve our primary outcome: patient-reported disability 90-days after enrollment; secondary outcomes: patient-centered (depression, anxiety, quality of life, frailty, survival, 1-year disability scores, COVID19 severity) and system-relevant (admissions, emergency visits, institutionalization, costs, cost-effectiveness). Methods: Design, setting and participants: Parallel-arm multicenter randomized controlled trial at 3 Canadian hospitals. People \>65 years old recently discharged home with \>2 comorbidities will be included. Intervention: Three month supported home-based exercise program with demonstrated efficacy, feasibility and acceptability for vulnerable older people. Outcomes and sample size: We will have 90% power to detect a clinically important difference of in our primary outcome (validated WHODAS tool, 90-days post-enrollment) with 372 participants (186/arm)