Exercise associated with longer life in patients with heart failure

FLORENCE, Italy — Exercise is associated with a longer life in patients with heart failure, according to research presented in a late- breaking trial session at Heart Failure 2016 and the 3rd World Congress on Acute Heart Failure.

The analysis in more than 4,000 patients showed a mortality benefit from exercise, regardless of heart failure severity, age and gender.

“Patients with heart failure should not be scared of exercise damaging them or killing them,” said principal investigator Professor Rod Taylor, chair of health services research and director of the Exeter Clinical Trials Unit at the University of Exeter Medical School in Exeter, UK.

“The message for heart failure patients is clear: exercise is good for you, it will make you feel better, and it could potentially make you live longer.”

To conduct the study, the investigators identified 23 randomised trials of exercise that included at least 50 heart failure patients who were followed up for six months or longer. After asking the authors of all 23 studies for individual patient data, they received the information from 20 trials.

The 20 trials included 4,043 patients with heart failure. The investigators found that exercise was associated with an 18 per cent lower risk of all-cause mortality and an 11 per cent reduced risk of hospitalisation compared with no exercise.

Exercise may benefit patients with heart disease, including heart failure, in a number of ways. It improves physical fitness and improves the oxygen supply to the heart. It also reduces the likelihood of the abnormal rhythms that can cause sudden death.

“This analysis did in fact show that there is a mortality benefit from doing exercise. In other words, patients who exercised had a lower risk of death than those who didn’t,” Professor Taylor said.

— European Society of Cardiology