Exercise reduced heart failure hospitalizations in trial
In a six-month randomized study, 100 people with chronic heart failure received hospital-started, supervised home exercise or standard care.
Limit: Follow-up lasted only six months
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In a randomized trial, 100 patients with chronic heart failure received either a structured exercise program or standard care. Training began during hospitalization and continued at home under supervision. Researchers assessed strength, walking speed, frailty, fitness, and thinking and memory at the start and after six months.
The exercise group had fewer heart failure–related hospitalizations over six months. In that group, grip strength rose from 28.9 to 32.0 kilograms, and frailty scores fell from 1.63 to 1.23. Scores on a test of thinking and memory also improved. Fitness, measured by peak oxygen use during exercise, was maintained in the exercise group but declined by about 20% or more from baseline in the standard-care group. The standard-care group showed no improvement in frailty or thinking and memory.
Why it matters
Frailty and functional decline contribute to recurrent hospitalization in heart failure. The findings suggest early rehabilitation may change the course of this decline beyond managing symptoms, a question relevant to aging with the condition.
Caveats
Follow-up lasted six months, and the congress abstract reported no hospitalization counts or rates, exercise frequency or intensity, or harms. Participants had chronic heart failure, but their ages, sex, and exclusion criteria were not specified, leaving applicability to other groups unclear.
Exercise is part of Bryan Johnson's Blueprint
The paper
Incheon Medical Center; Gachon University Gil Medical Center
ESC Congress 2026 Abstract, Oct 26, 2026
Presented at ESC Congress 2026
