New Study On Aging, Exercise, And Heart Failure
The National
Institutes of Health have given researchers at the University of Texas
Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas a $1.7 million grant to study the
effects of aging on the heart and to see if training in endurance exercise
can helps prevent or reverse congestive heart failure in the elderly.
Currently CHF
affects 8 out of every 1,000 people over the age of 70, with symptoms such
as shortness of breath and the inability to perform activities of daily
living such as shopping, walking, or climbing stairs.
Principal investigator
Benjamin Levine, MD, and his colleagues will focus especially on CHF caused
by diastolic dysfunction, in which the heart is unable to relax completely
as it pumps and thus cannot beat with its usually strength.
They believe
that exercise training will improve this abnormality and help reverse the
effects of CHF. According to Dr. Levine, "These studies will result in
a comprehensive understanding of the effect of normal aging and physical
conditioning on diastolic function."
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