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Supervised exercise appears to be both safe and healthy for people with heart failure, according to a study appearing in the April 8 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The findings stem from the HF-Action trial (A Controlled Trial Investigating Outcomes Exercise Training), the most comprehensive study to date examining the effects of exercise upon patients with heart failure.
The trial enrolled 2331 patients in the US, Canada and France. The participants received usual care or usual care plus an exercise training program that began under supervision but then transitioned to home-based, self-monitored workouts.
Patients in the exercise group began by using a treadmill or a stationary bicycle 15 minutes to 35 minutes three times a week, working up to 40 minutes five times a week. About 65 percent, or 759 patients, in the exercise training group died or were hospitalized, compared with 68 percent, or 796 patients, in the usual care group. After accounting for several variables, the scientists determined that patients who exercised cut their risk of death and hospitalization by 11 percent.
“The message for the average heart failure patient is: ‘We believe there are benefits from exercise. Quality of life is important, and physical fitness is important,’ ” said Dr. Christopher M. O’Connor, the principal investigator of the trial and director of the Duke Heart Center at the Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C.
Statistics show that approximately 5 million Americans suffer from heart failure and that 300,000 deaths are to be blamed on this condition. Also, reports show that the condition is responsible for about 1 million hospitalizations each year.
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