AI-CRESTAL

Singapore cardiac rehabilitation research

Cardiac rehabilitation that fits into everyday life.

AI-CRESTAL is studying a 6-week home-based cardiac rehabilitation programme. Exercise plans are personalised by an AI coach and reviewed by your cardiac rehabilitation team.

See how it works For participants
  • 6-week programme
  • Exercise at home
  • Clinician reviewed

About AI-CRESTAL

Bringing cardiac rehabilitation home.

Cardiac rehabilitation helps people recover after a heart event, but travelling to a centre several times a week is not practical for everyone. AI-CRESTAL builds on the i-CREST programme to find out whether a home-based programme with AI support works as well as centre-based care.

Exercise at home

Guided sessions you can do at home or in your neighbourhood, on a schedule that suits you.

Wearable insights

A paired smartwatch records activity and heart rate, so your plan reflects how you actually move.

Your care team

Clinicians review every exercise plan and follow your weekly progress throughout the programme.

How it works

An AI coach, with clinicians in the loop.

The Agentic AI Coach suggests personalised exercise prescriptions. Your cardiac rehabilitation team stays in charge of every recommendation.

  1. 1

    Process

    The coach brings together wearable activity data, past medical history, and medication such as beta-blocker use.

  2. 2

    Recommend

    It identifies each participant's activity pattern, such as sedentary or non-sedentary, and proposes a personalised exercise prescription.

  3. 3

    Enhance

    The cardiac rehabilitation team reviews, adjusts, and releases the plan, and their feedback improves future recommendations.

The study

A multi-site randomised controlled trial.

Participants are assigned to one of two 6-week programmes using stratified block randomisation.

Intervention

AI-CRESTAL

6-week home-based cardiac rehabilitation with the AI exercise coach, a paired smartwatch, and the AI-CRESTAL app.

Comparison

CBCR

6-week centre-based cardiac rehabilitation, the current standard of care delivered at a hospital rehabilitation centre.

Participants
150

75 in each group

Programme length
6 weeks

for both groups

Main measure
6MWT

6-minute walk test distance

Partner sites
4

hospitals in Singapore

Participating sites

  • National University Heart Centre, Singapore
  • National Heart Centre Singapore
  • Tan Tock Seng Hospital
  • Woodlands Hospital

For participants

What taking part looks like.

If you are invited to join, your cardiac rehabilitation team will explain the study and answer your questions first. Taking part is voluntary.

  1. Referral and consent

    Your rehabilitation team checks whether the study is right for you and takes your consent.

  2. Baseline check

    You complete a 6-minute walk test and health questionnaires before you start.

  3. Six weeks of rehabilitation

    Follow your programme at home with the app and smartwatch, or at the centre, depending on your group.

  4. Follow-up

    You repeat the walk test and questionnaires so the study can compare outcomes between groups.

Your data is handled with care.

Accounts are by invitation only and protected with multi-factor authentication. Only your authorised care team can see your health data, and every access is recorded in an audit trail.