Home-based exercise increased exercise capacity safely but did not improve quality of life in patients with chronic heart failure .
It could therefore be used to improve the management of people with chronic heart failure who do not have access to hospital-based exercise
QUESTIONS Does home-based exercise improve exercise capacity and quality of life in people with chronic heart failure ?
Is it safe ?
Antioxidative Effects of Exercise Training in Patients With Chronic Heart Failure: Increase in Radical Scavenger Enzyme Activity in Skeletal Muscle
Background —In chronic heart failure ( CHF ) , cross-talk between inflammatory activation and oxidative stress has been anticipated in skeletal muscle ( SM ) . The role of the radical scavenger enzymes superoxide dismutase ( SOD ) , catalase ( Cat ) , and glutathione peroxidase ( GPX ) , which remove oxygen radicals , has never been assessed in the SM in this context . Moreover , it remains unknown whether exercise training augments the activity of these enzymes in CHF . Methods and Results —Twenty-three patients with CHF were r and omized to either 6 months of exercise training ( T ) or a sedentary lifestyle  ( C ) ; 12 age-matched healthy subjects ( HS ) were studied in parallel . Activity of Cat , SOD , and GPX was assessed in SM biopsies before and after 6 months ( 6 months ) . Oxidative stress was determined by measuring nitrotyrosine formation . SOD , Cat , and GPX activity was reduced by 31 % , 57 % , and 51 % , respectively , whereas nitrotyrosine formation was increased by 107 % in SM in CHF ( P<0.05 versus HS ) . In CHF , exercise training  augmented GPX and Cat activity in SM by 41 % ( P<0.05 versus before and group C ) and 42 % ( P<0.05 versus before and group C ) , respectively , and decreased nitrotyrosine production by 35 % ( from 3.8±0.4 % tissue area before to 2.5±0.3 % after 6 months ; P<0.05 versus before ) . Conclusions —The reduced activity of major antioxidative enzymes in the SM of CHF patients is associated with increased local oxidative stress  . Exercise training exerts antioxidative effects in the SM in CHF , in particular , due to an augmentation in activity of radical scavenger enzymes
Home-based exercise increased exercise capacity safely but did not improve quality of life in patients with chronic heart failure .
It could therefore be used to improve the management of people with chronic heart failure who do not have access to hospital-based exercise
QUESTIONS Does home-based exercise improve exercise capacity and quality of life in people with chronic heart failure ?
Is it safe ?