About This Project

Emerging data suggest that high intensity exercise training in select heart failure patients may result in better outcomes compared to normal, easy exercise leading to a better quality of life. Our goal is to test how stable heart failure patients respond to 8 weeks of high intensity interval training. Functional outcomes and quality of life will be assessed throughout the study. This program may improve physiological and clinical outcomes and lower health care costs.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Heart failure is a serious condition, commonly caused by the inability of the heart to contract properly. It is a significant health care issue in the United States, with total cost of care of about $30.7 billion yearly. About 5.7 million people in the United States (≥20 years) have heart failure. Thus, there is a great need in creating successful interventions to mitigate these costs. One successful way to improve outcome in these patients and reduce health care costs is cardiac rehabilitation, which involves regular aerobic exercise training. I would like to implement high-intense exercise training in heart failure patients over an 8 week period to demonstrate that this type of training may change the current standard of care and improve outcome.

What is the significance of this project?

This project has the potential to change the current scientific dogma so that high intensity exercise will be the future standard of care in these patients.Current guidelines support moderate intensity exercise training in heart failure (HF) patients since there is a 15% reduction in cardiovascular mortality compared to controls. However, high intensity exercise may be a promising strategy. In a meta-analysis of 277 individuals with cardiometabolic disease (one or more of coronary artery disease, HF, diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome), aerobic capacity increased by 20%(http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/48...). That improvement of fitness can reduce health care costs by 10% (http://www.sciencedirect.com/s...)

What are the goals of the project?

One of the major goals of this project is to show that a study like this is feasible to accomplish. We also wish to demonstrate that functional outcomes and quality of life are greater when performing regular high intensity exercise for 8 weeks compared to performing low intensity / moderate exercise for 8 weeks in patients with heart failure. Finally, we wish to present this pilot data for a much larger grant application.

Data collection is expected to start January, 2017, and completed by July, 2017. We will randomize 24 subjects into 2 groups; a high intensity or moderate intensity group. Subjects will undergo a series of heart and lung tests during baseline and then again after 8 weeks of exercise training.