exercise and chronic heart failure (CHF)

Last reviewed 01/2018

  • a meta-analysis of randomised trials (1) provides no evidence that properly supervised medical training programmes for patients with heart failure might be dangerous
    • the meta-analysis provided evidence that, in patients with chronic heart failure from left ventricular systolic dysfunction,
      • exercise training delayed death and hospital admissions
  • a further systematic review (2) concluded that exercise training was safe in patients with heart failure and resulted in increased peak oxygen consumption
  • a study has shown that (3):
    • exercise training confers modest but statistically significant improvements in self-reported health status compared with usual care without training
    • improvements occur early and persist over time

Reference:

  1. Piepoli MF et al. Exercise training meta-analysis of trials in patients with chronic heart failure (ExTraMATCH). BMJ 2004;328:189-92.
  2. Smart N et al . Exercise training for patients with heart failure: a systematic review of factors that improve mortality and morbidity. Am J Med 2004;116:693-706
  3. O'Connor CM et al. Effects of exercise training on health status in patients with chronic heart failure: HF-ACTION randomized controlled trial.JAMA. 2009 Apr 8;301(14):1451-9