Trial reportBMJ open2017
Thermal clothing to reduce heart failure morbidity during winter: a randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in BMJ open, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 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
3 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Promoting resilience to weather-related and seasonal provocations to health in people with multimorbid heart disease: a prospective pragmatic, randomised trial.The Medical journal of Australia · 2025Trial
- Thermal clothing to reduce heart failure morbidity during winter: a randomised controlled trial.BMJ open · 2017Trial
- Forecasting heart failure: Seasonal alignment of heart failure outcomes in New York.ESC heart failure · 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
objectiveTo examine whether providing thermal clothing improved the health of patients with heart failure during winter.
designParallel group randomised controlled trial.
settingLarge public hospital in Brisbane during winter 2016.
participants91 patients with systolic or diastolic heart failure who were over 50 years old.
intervention47 patients were randomised to receive thermal clothes (socks, top and hat) and 44 received usual care. Patients could not be blinded to their randomised group. All patients' data were available for the primary outcome which was collected blind to randomised group.
main outcome measuresThe primary outcome was the mean number of days in hospital during winter. Secondary outcomes included quality of life and sleep, and blood tests were collected for cardiovascular risk factors. Participants completed clothing diaries in midwinter which were used to estimate their overall clothing insulation using the 'clo'. Monitors inside the participants' homes recorded indoor temperatures throughout winter.
resultsThe mean number of days in hospital during winter was 4.2 in the usual care group and 3.0 in the thermal clothing group (mean difference -1.2 days, 95% CI -4.8 to 2.5 days). Most participants (85%) in the thermal clothing group reported using the thermals. There was an increase in overall clothing insulation at night in the thermal clothing group (mean difference 0.13 clo, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.23). Most participants in both groups did not wear sufficient clothing (defined as a clo below 1) and regularly experienced indoor temperatures below 18°C during midwinter.
conclusionsThere was no clear statistical improvement in health in the thermal clothing group. Efforts to improve health during winter may need to focus on passive interventions such as home insulation rather than interventions that target behaviour change. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ACTRN12615001023549; Results.
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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.