Trial reportHeart and vessels2013
Hyperthermia by bathing in a hot spring improves cardiovascular functions and reduces the production of inflammatory cytokines in patients with chronic heart failure.
Trial report in Heart and vessels, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 71 citations in OpenAlex.
- Balneotherapy using thermal mineral water baths and dermatological diseases: a systematic review.International journal of biometeorology · 2024Pooled it
- Japanese steam sand bath heat therapy mediates comparable reductions in blood pressure with smaller discomfort and respiratory strains than hot water immersion and sauna.European journal of applied physiology · 2026Trial
- Post-exercise hot water immersion enhances haemodynamic and vascular benefits of exercise without further improving cardiorespiratory fitness, glucose, lipids or inflammation.The Journal of physiology · 2025Trial
- No effect of either heat therapy or aerobic exercise training on blood pressure in adults with untreated hypertension: a randomized clinical trial.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2025Trial
- Evaluation of the benefits of neutral bicarbonate ionized water baths in an open-label, randomized, crossover trial.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Effects of serial radon spa therapy on pain and peripheral immune status in patients suffering from musculoskeletal disorders- results from a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Trial
- Clinical and anti-aging effect of mud-bathing therapy for patients with fibromyalgia.Molecular and cellular biochemistry · 2018Trial
- Spa therapy (balneotherapy) relieves mental stress, sleep disorder, and general health problems in sub-healthy people.International journal of biometeorology · 2018Trial
- Heat therapy promotes the expression of angiogenic regulators in human skeletal muscle.American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology · 2016Trial
- Why Circulating Interleukin-6 Is Not Yet a Standalone Clinically Actionable Biomarker in HFrEF: A Context-of-Use Review.European journal of clinical investigation · 2026Review
- Comparison of exercise training and repeated hot water immersion on vascular function in overweight older adults.Experimental physiology · 2026Article
- Passive heat therapy is feasible but does not affect cardiometabolic health outcomes in persons with spinal cord injury - a pilot study.Experimental physiology · 2026Article
- Effect of repeated hot water immersion on muscle strength, power, function and physical activity in healthy older adults: A randomised crossover trial.Experimental physiology · 2026Article
- Acute Heat Exposure-Related Illness: A Unified Emergency Medicine Framework for Hot Baths, Hot Springs, and Saunas-A Narrative Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Heat Therapy: Targeting Health, Disease, and Disability.Comprehensive Physiology · 2026Review
- Balneotherapy as a potential immunomodulator in inflammaging.Clinical rheumatology · 2025Article
- Heat thermotherapy to improve cardiovascular function and cardiometabolic health: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Experimental physiology · 2025Article
- Non-acute effects of passive heating interventions on cardiometabolic risk and vascular health: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.American journal of preventive cardiology · 2025Article
- Comprehensive review of dermatological and cosmeceutical manifestations of thermal water and future insights.International journal of biometeorology · 2025Review
- The role of deep hyperthermia in IMRT in elderly patients with esophageal cancer: a retrospective cohort study.Radiation oncology (London, England) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Balneotherapy has been shown to reduce systemic blood pressure in healthy volunteers. Hyperthermia might ameliorate the inflammatory status in heart failure through improving cardiac function. The purpose of this study was to examine the beneficial effects of balneotherapy in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Thirty-two patients with systolic CHF classified as New York Heart Association functional status II or III were randomized to divide either a balneotherapy group or a control group. The patients in the balneotherapy group were immersed in a hot spring at 40°C for 10 min daily for 2 weeks; the control group patients took a shower daily. The left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) and cardiothoracic ratio (CTR) were evaluated and plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, and IL-6 levels were measured. The clinical symptoms improved after 2 weeks of hot spring therapy. Although the heart rate did not change, clinical symptoms, CTR, EF, and BNP were significantly improved. Moreover, the inflammatory responses, including hsCRP, TNF-α and IL-6 decreased significantly after balneotherapy. The improvement of BNP correlates with the changes in inflammatory biomarkers. Repeated hyperthermia by bathing in a hot spring is therefore considered to improve the cardiac and inflammatory status in patients with CHF.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.