A home-based exercise program for overweight or
obese patients with advanced heart failure results
in significant weight loss after six months, researchers
in California report.
It's well established that exercise is important
for long-term weight control for overweight people,
Dr. Lorraine S. Evangelista, of the University of
California, Los Angeles, and colleagues point out.
"However, little evidence exists confirming such
findings in patients with advanced heart failure."
To look into this, the researchers assigned 99
heart failure patients, classified as at least overweight,
to a low-level, home-based exercise program or to
a comparison "control" group. The participants'
average age was 53 years, and most were male, white
and married, according to the report in the American
Journal of Cardiology.
Those in the exercise program were asked to walk
for 45 minutes at least four times a week at a speed
that raised their heart rate to 60 percent of maximum.
After six weeks, a light resistive training component
was added to the exercise regimen.
Compared with individuals in the control group,
those in the exercise group had significant weight
reduction after 6 months, with a weight loss of
14 pounds versus a bit more than half a pound among
the controls.
Moreover, significantly fewer hospital admissions
occurred in the exercise-group patients compared
with the control-group patients -- average 0.63
versus 1.07, respectively.
Modest weight loss of 5 percent or more was associated
with higher exercise levels at 6 months, as well
as decreased levels of depression and hostility,
Evangelista and colleagues report.
Nonetheless, the authors note in their article
that others have found that being overweight doesn't
seem to raise the odds of heart failure patients
dying, and that involuntary weight loss in severe
heart failure is a poor sign. They therefore conclude
that the benefits of deliberate weight loss are
uncertain.
SOURCE: American Journal of Cardiology, March 15,
2006.
