Exercise in heart failure: Effectiveness versus safety

Exercise training in patients with heart failure has been shown to improve exercise tolerance and quality of life and reduce symptoms of heart failure. Recently, the first large-scale trial evaluating the effects of exercise training in heart failure, the Heart Failure “A Controlled Trial Investigating Outcomes of Exercise Training (HF-ACTION) trial, was presented. Although there was no improvement in the primary endpoint of all-cause mortality and hospitalization, there was a mortality benefit demonstrated for patients with clinical signs of increased mortality and for those that actually performed exercise training of at least 3 metabolic equivalent (MET) hours per week. This chapter reviews the results of this trial and the safety of exercise training for patients with chronic heart failure.