Abnormal heart lowers exercise capacity

"Patients with abnormal diastolic function - the heart is relaxed and expanded - in the left ventricle have a lower exercise capacity, U.S. researchers say. Dr. Jasmine Grewal of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and colleagues studied the relationship between left ventricular diastolic function and exercise capacity. The study included 2,867 patients undergoing exercise echocardiography - a noninvasive diagnostic procedure that uses ultrasound to study the structure and motions of the heart. The patients had routine measurements of left ventricular systolic - contraction of the heart - and diastolic function. Analyses were conducted to determine the strongest correlates of exercise capacity and the age and sex interactions of these variables with exercise capacity. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that diastolic dysfunction - impaired relaxation - was strongly and inversely associated with exercise capacity. Compared with normal function, those with resting diastolic dysfunction had substantially lower exercise capacity, the study said" - UPI