A condition called heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) occurs when ventricles are not able to relax and refill with blood after the heart muscle contracts (American Heart Association). HFPEF is increasingly becoming the fastest growing form of heart failure, and patients are usually older women who are overweight or obese.
The participants were split randomly into four groups:
- 20 weeks of a calorie-restricted diet
- 20 weeks of aerobic exercise training
- 20 weeks of both diet and training
- 20 weeks without changing lifestyle habits (control group)
The group receiving both diet and exercise training saw the greatest percent change in body weight. The diet only group was the next successful, followed by the exercise only group and the control group, which only had a one percent change in body weight. There were no significant changes in quality of life for any of the groups.
Source: The Journal of the American Medical Association