Exercise training effects on elderly and middle-age patients with chronic heart failure after acute decompensation: A randomized, controlled trial

Abstract Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of exercise training on cardiac function in heart failure (HF) patients recently suffering from acute decompensation. Radionuclide ambulatory ventricular function monitoring (VEST) was used to detect variations in cardiac hemodynamics during training period. Methods This was a monocentric, randomized, controlled trial. We enrolled 72 HF patients [left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) Results Exercise training significantly improved exercise duration, peak oxygen consumption, and ventilatory threshold both in elderly and middle-aged patients ( p p p =0.03, respectively), training reliably influence previous cardiopulmonary parameters (F=29.402, F=16.421, F=26.80, p p =0.002), peak stroke volume (43.3±3.9% vs 37.5±4.3%, p =0.001), and peak CO (63.4±6.1% vs 48.2±4.7%, p Conclusions Exercise training improves cardiac performance indexes and pulmonary function in both middle-aged and elderly HF patients early after an acute episode of cardiac decompensation.