BENEFITS OF EXERCISE IN ELDERLY CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE PATIENTS

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The purpose of the study was to assess the benefits of regular, supervised exercise training on the functional capacity of elderly patients with congestive heart failure. Subjects were asked to complete a 6-month training program at the GCRC Exercise Testing and Training Facility. The following conclusions are: 1) a hospital-based program is impractical for long-term training in this cohort. A new proposal will be designed shortly looking at the utility of a community-based program. No adverse effects were noted with this training. 2) Forty-nine percent of the subjects were able to complete the 6-month program. Those who dropped out did so because of time and transportation constraints. 3) Overall, there was a 22% improvement in exercise capacity as measured by peak VO2, a 98% increase in submaximal exercise capacity assessed by treadmill, and a 122% increase in submaximal exercise duration assessed by the 6-minute walk. EXERCISE ONLY PROTOCOL; NO INPATIENT DAYS OR OUTPATIENT VISITS.