Trial procedures
atrial fibrillation, peripheral artery disease stroke, venous thromboembolism
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION, CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE, ATRIAL FIBRILLATION, APPENDIX, CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE
At the dedicated study center, patients received a highly standardized 5-h clinical and medical technical examination from October 2016 to June 2020. Trained and certified medical assistants performed all procedures according to standard operating procedures. Comprehensive phenotyping was performed identically at visit 1 (baseline visit) and after 12 weeks of the intervention (visit 3). In addition, patients received a follow-up visit one week after randomization (visit 2).During the visit at the study center, information on current medication (according to Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system), cardiovascular risk factors and comorbidities (e.g., atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, myocardial infarction, peripheral artery disease stroke, and venous thromboembolism) was collected through physical examination, computer-assisted interviews, anthropometric and blood pressure measurements, as well as laboratory analysis (see Supplemental Appendix for detailed information). In addition to medical-technical examinations, which were mainly focused on the cardiovascular system, blood and urine samples were taken and subsequently stored at − 80 °C for biobanking.Transthoracic echocardiography was conducted using an iE33 echocardiography system with an S5-1 sector array transducer (Royal Philips Electronics, Amsterdam, The Netherlands). Measurements of cardiac structure and function were taken according to current guideline recommendations [