AbstractObjective: Heart failure has emerged as global health issue despite multiple treatment options. The present study was conducted to explore the efficacy of heart failure reversal therapy in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.
Material and Methods: An observational study was conducted in Madhavbaug Hospital, Khopoli from January 2015 to December 2017. All elderly male patients aged>60 years with heart failure and ejection fraction>40% were considered eligible. Patients were hospitalized and HFRT was given twice daily for seven days, following which they were discharged and advised to follow-up at 30, 60 and 90 days. The primary efficacy endpoint was improvement in maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max) and secondary endpoints were changes in body weight, BMI, abdominal girth, heart rate, blood pressure.
Results: A total of 194 patients could complete the entire 90 day treatment and considered for analysis. The VO2max measured at day 90 was significantly higher compared to baseline values (26.36 ± 6.88 versus 18.37 ± 5.47, p<0.001). Such improvement was also observed in bodyweight (64.64 ± 9.22 at day 90 versus 68.69 ± 10.31 at baseline) abdominal girth (90.19 ± 8.46 versus 95.06 ± 9.34)BMI (23.76 ± 2.93 versus 25.23 ± 3.15) heart rate (76.61 ± 14.17 versus 80.66 ± 14.59) systolic BP (122.99 ± 12.56 versus 124.55 ± 15.25) and diastolic BP (78.39 ± 7.67 versus 78.15 ± 8.37) (p value <0.001 for all the secondary endpoints).
Conclusion: Our study demonstrated HFRT causes significant improvement in VO2 max in patients with HFpEF which implies better exercise tolerance. HFRT also showed improvement in weight, BMI and abdominal girth, blood pressure of the patients, which could have a positive impact on quality of life.