ECU doctoral student recruiting rural heart failure patients for low-salt diet study

JONES COUNTY, N.C. (WITN) - An East Carolina University doctoral student is recruiting heart failure patients in rural communities for a research study focused on how they manage a low-salt diet.

Brendan Lake, a doctoral student and registered nurse at ECU, is looking for participants who have heart failure, live in a rural community, and have been told to follow a low-salt diet. Lake presented his study at the Wellderly Health & Wellness Fair in Jones County.

Heart failure affects more than 6.7 million adults in the U.S., according to the American Heart Association. Despite how common the condition is, Lake said rural areas tend to be overlooked when it comes to managing it.

“This is a major problem here, and it’s been an issue that’s well understood but where diet has played a big role in the reasons people are returning to the hospital needing additional treatment,” Lake said.

Lake said rural communities have a nearly 30 percent higher mortality rate from heart failure than people living in urban or suburban regions.

The low-salt diet many heart failure patients are placed on can pose a challenge, Lake said, as a lot of food in the South is high in salt. The study aims to learn about those challenges to help keep patients out of the hospital.

“This study is a pivotal first step so that we can develop the ways that support them the way that they need to be supported, not the way that we think they do,” Lake said.

Lake knows the impact of heart failure firsthand, as he spent nearly a decade treating heart failure patients at ECU Health Medical Center before pursuing his doctorate.

“I’ve met amazing people who had heart failure and who I was able to help support their health and get them home to their families, but who I saw all too often — who we could almost set our watch to how often they were admitted to the hospital with complications,” Lake said.

Phyllis Daniels, a Trenton resident who attended the wellness fair, said her twin sister’s recent stroke prompted her to focus more on her own health.

“I’m at the age where I need to be taking care of my heart and everything else. I’m 68,” Daniels said.

Lake said the goal of the study is to give heart failure patients a voice in their own care.

“To tell us how they need support and tell us what experiences they’re encouraging to do a better job in the healthcare community, keeping them out of the hospitals and home with their families,” Lake said.

For more information about the study, or if you’re eligible, you can contact Brendan Lake at Heartstudy@ecu.edu or 216-904-5257.