Exercise reduces heart disease-related risks - especially for women: study

What are the effects of exercise training in patients suffering from cardiovascular disease? In a new study, exercise was found to lower risk of mortality or hospitalization by 26 percent in women and 10 percent in men.

The clinical trial involved 2,331 patients who were instructed to participate in either a formal exercise program with optimal medical therapy, or optimal medical therapy only.

Those participating in the exercise program performed supervised walking or stationary cycling for 30 minutes three days per week for six weeks. Following 18 complete sessions, patients added 40 minutes of home-based exercise two days a week. Patients transitioned to a five-day-per-week, 40-minutes-a-day home-based exercise program after completing 36 supervised sessions.

The study is said to be the first to show the link between exercise and its effects on women with heart disease.

"Heart disease has a major impact on women. Our goal is for these findings to greatly impact the management of this challenging syndrome," said Ileana Piña of Montefiore Medical Center in New York.

Despite women's being twice as likely as men to develop heart failure following a heart attack or cardiac ischemia, health professionals are more likely to recommend exercise programs to male, according to Montefiore Medical Center.

"Findings suggest physicians should consider exercise as a component of treatment for female patients with heart failure, as they do for male patients," said Dr. Piña

The study was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Heart Failure.