Exercise and heart failure

NEW YORK, June 22 (Praxis Press) Exercise training in patients with chronic heart failure improves work capacity, but effects on central hemodynamic function are not well established. Hambrecht and colleagues assigned 73 men younger than 70 with chronic heart failure to an exercise program or to a physically inactive control group (see paper). For the first 2 weeks of the program, participants exercised on a bicycle ergometer for 10 minutes four to six times a day under hospital supervision. For the rest of the 6-month program, the men exercised 20 minutes a day at home at 70% of maximum oxygen uptake. Compared with controls, patients enrolled in the exercise program experienced improved left ventricular (LV) stroke volume as well as reductions in total peripheral resistance (TPR) and cardiomegaly. Patients with chronic heart failure may benefit from a home-based exercise program by causing a considerable reduction of TPR,...