Trial reportBMC complementary and alternative medicine2016
Outcomes from a three-arm randomized controlled trial of frequent immersion in thermoneutral water on cardiovascular risk factors.
Trial report in BMC complementary and alternative medicine, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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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
4 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association of Controlled Physical Activity with Weight Loss and Less Limitations for Hypertensive Patients.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Head-out immersion in natural thermal mineral water for the management of hypertension: a review of randomized controlled trials.International journal of biometeorology · 2019Review
- Assessment of Changes in Lipids Metabolism in Patients with Degenerative Joints and Discs Diseases Subjected to Spa Therapy.BioMed research international · 2019Observational
- Habitual hot water bathing protects cardiovascular function in middle-aged to elderly Japanese subjects.Scientific reports · 2018Article
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 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCardiovascular diseases are a main cause of mortality worldwide. Spa bathing and immersion in thermoneutral water (ITW) have a long history in the treatment of cardiovascular risk factors.
methodsWe conducted a three-arm parallel-group, randomized controlled study to investigate the effects of frequent ITW on moderately elevated blood pressure (BP). Here, we report on the secondary outcomes, i.e. the influence of immersion in thermoneutral water on further cardiovascular risk factors: body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, blood lipids, fasting blood glucose and C-reactive protein. Patients (age 57.6 ± 9.6 years, BMI 29.5 ± 5.7 kg/m(2)) with mild to moderately elevated BP received ITW for 45-60 min in pools of thermal-mineral water at 34.0-36.0 °C four times a week for 4 weeks. One group (Bath1) reduced the intensity to one bath a week for a further 20 weeks, while the other group (Bath2) continued bathing four times a week. The control group was instructed to relax for 45-60 min four times a week for 24 weeks using a relaxation CD.
resultsThe secondary analysis of the intention-to-treat population (N = 59) did not show a significant reduction of BMI, waist circumference, blood lipids, fasting blood glucose or C-reactive protein in patients with a mild to moderately elevated BP after 4 and 24 weeks ITW, respectively. There were no significant differences between the groups.
conclusionThus, we did not find evidence to support our ITW program being an efficacious intervention to induce cardiovascular alterations in this population of hypertensive patients.
trial registrationDRKS00003980 at drks-neu.uniklinik-freiburg.de, German Clinical Trials Register (registration date 2012-07-10).
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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.