The UPHILL study investigated whether a diet could improve the quality of life (QOL) for patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). An important part of this was monitoring the nutritional status. Nutritional status is not only what someone eats and drinks, but also the vitamin and mineral levels in the blood. Several notable findings emerged when determining the nutritional status.
In this study a group of prevalent pulmonary arterial hypertension patients at a single center in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) was informed about healthy nutrition using a newly designed video e-learning. Despite the fact that patients had already high mean scores at baseline for both mental and physical quality of life, scores improved further during e-learning. Furthermore, patients who realized most nutritional adaptations, had the best improvement in quality of life.
This pilot study showed that e-learning modules on nutrition provide a unique opportunity to change nutritional intake in pulmonary arterial hypertension patients and improve quality of life.
Citation
Kwant CT, de Man F, van der Horst FAL, Bogaard HJ, Vonk Noordegraaf A. The UPHILL study: A nutrition and lifestyle intervention to improve quality of life for patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. Pulm Circ. 2023 May 27;13(2):e12243. doi: 10.1002/pul2.12243. PMID: 37252180; PMCID: PMC10224798. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37252180
