title: Long-term follow-up of very old heart failure patients enrolled in a trial of exercise training.
abstract: Little is known about how physical and psychological status changes with time in older heart failure patients. The authors followed up a cohort of 82 patients (mean age, 80.5 years) enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of exercise training in heart failure. Six-minute walk test, accelerometry, functional status, quality of life, anxiety, and depression were measured at baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and a mean of 19 months post-enrollment. There were no significant differences between the exercise and control groups at long-term follow-up. Six-minute walk distance declined by only 0.2 m/month in those attending final follow-up (vs 4.6 m/month in nonattenders; P=.03). Similar results were seen for other outcomes. Only a small proportion of the variance in change of any of the outcomes was explained by differences in baseline variables.
authors.affiliation: Section of Ageing and Health, University of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital, UK. m.witham@dundee.ac.uk
authors.forename: Miles D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Witham
authors.forename: Ishbel S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Argo
authors.forename: Derek W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.forename: Allan D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Struthers
authors.forename: Marion E T
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: McMurdo
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001007:Anxiety; D003863:Depression; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000401:mortality / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome