Men with heart failure have been shown to benefit from exercise training, however, researchers aimed to find out if this also applied equally to women.

Forty-nine patients who were less than 75 years old with stable, mild-to-moderate heart failure were selected of which 29% were women.

The Department of Cardiology in Sweden created an exercise programme which consisted of bicycle training for over a period of 4 months. All the men in the study with a diminished supply of blood to some part significantly got better, however, none of the women with the same aetiology improved.

The study concludes that exercise training is a safe and beneficial method of treatment in heart failure patients, especially men with a diminished blood supply. The results though not reflected by the women may benefit from further examination.