Test Could Help Heart Failure Therapies

A simple exercise test may help predict mortality risk in patients with heart failure and help doctors tailor therapies, found a U.S. study.

Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center evaluated a test that measures the lungs’ efficiency at consuming oxygen and expiring carbon dioxide. The test has been shown to predict future hospitalizations in patients with systolic heart failure, a type in which the left chamber of the heart is too weakened to pump blood efficiently, according to Dr. Dalane Kitzman, a professor of cardiology and senior researcher on the project.

This may allow doctors to better assess patient risk, and could help them determine the most appropriate plan of care based on the prognosis of the patient, Kitzman said in a statement.

The study, published in the Journal of Cardiac Failure, studied 147 patients with congestive heart failure and found patients with systolic heart failure had a mean score of 37, which suggests an increased risk of mortality. Patients with diastolic heart failure had a mean score of 34, suggesting lower risk. The group of healthy older adults had a mean score of 32.