Moderate exercise can help patients with failing hearts feel better -- and it 's safe , according to the largest-ever study of exercise in people with chronic heart failure , published as two articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association . Patients in the exercise group were given exercise training and either a treadmill or an exercise bike . The study 's results may not have been groundbreaking : Fewer than half of patients were fully following the recommended exercise regimen ( the equivalent of brisk walking or stationary cycling for about two to three hours a week ) by the end of the study , and the effect of exercise on mortality and hospitalization risk was small . But these benefits should n't be dismissed , given the poor quality of life many chronic heart failure patients have , says Clyde Yancy , M.D. , medical director of the Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute in Houston , Texas . `` Having any strategy that 's reasonable , that has the potential to help even a little bit , is pretty important , '' says Yancy , who was not involved in the research . `` The real gain might be in helping our patients feel better . '' About 5 million people in the United States have chronic heart failure , in which the heart becomes too weak to pump blood through the body effectively . Not too long ago , bed rest was the standard treatment for these patients , who suffer from fatigue , difficulty breathing , and swelling of the legs , among other symptoms . But for the past 20 or 30 years , evidence has been trickling in to show that these patients can actually benefit from being active , says Kathryn E. Flynn , Ph.D. , of Duke University School of Medicine in Durham , North Carolina . To get a clearer sense of the benefits ( and potential risks ) of exercise for heart failure patients , Flynn -- along with Christopher M. O'Connor , M.D. , director of the Heart Center at Duke , as well as colleagues from several centers across the country -- randomly assigned 2,331 men and women with heart failure to one of two groups : standard medical care plus aerobic exercise training or standard care only . People in the exercise group started out with 36 supervised-exercise sessions , then were sent home with a treadmill or exercise bike and instructed to get 120 to 200 minutes of exercise a week . Within three months , Flynn and her team found , the exercisers said they felt better . `` The average difference was modest , but it happened early , '' Flynn says . `` And it persisted over time : 54 percent of the men and women in this group reported clinically meaningful improvements in their health status three months into the study , compared with 29 percent of people in the control group . '' After two and a-half years , the people in the exercise group were slightly less likely to be hospitalized for any cause or for heart failure . They were also at modestly reduced risk of death from any cause , as well as death from heart failure . Unsurprisingly , exercisers also were somewhat more fit than they were at the study 's outset . Health.com : What puts you at risk for high cholesterol ? `` I think this study really helps to show that when you look across a lot of different people , exercise is a good thing , '' Flynn says , noting that past studies have included far fewer women and older people . Given that fewer than half of the patients in the exercise group were actually following recommendations for physical activity by the end of the study -- par for the course with behavioral-intervention trials requiring lifestyle changes -- O'Connor says he was n't disappointed that the benefits were small . `` Really , it 's quite remarkable in my opinion that we found these modest improvements , '' he adds . Health.com : Good fats vs. bad fats : Which fats are good for your heart ? When O'Connor and his colleagues broke down the results based on how well people were sticking to the exercise recommendations , an analysis not published in the JAMA paper , more striking differences emerged . `` The more you did with greater intensity , the greater benefit , '' O'Connor says . It 's also important , he adds , that the research was able to confirm that exercise does not carry risks for people with stable heart failure . `` It was not known that it was safe with this degree of certainty , '' O'Connor says . The question now , Yancy says , is whether insurers will decide to pay to help chronic heart failure patients exercise , given the modesty of the benefits . `` We really ca n't deploy this in a broad way without getting support from payers , '' he adds . `` I ca n't forecast which way that will go . '' Health.com : How I survived a heart attack at 43 . But O'Connor is willing to hazard a guess . Because his analysis suggests that patients with the most severe heart failure benefit the most from exercise , he says , it 's likely that insurers will pay for exercise training for these patients who will offer them the `` biggest bang for the buck . '' Try a FREE TRIAL issue of Health - CLICK HERE ! Copyright Health Magazine 2009 .
Study : Exercise in heart-failure patients is safe , helps well-being , reduces mortality . About 5 million people in the United States have chronic heart failure . Comment: