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Circulation. 1999;100:2411-2417

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(Circulation. 1999;100:2411.)
© 1999 American Heart Association, Inc.


Clinical Investigation and Reports

Ventilatory and Heart Rate Responses to Exercise

Better Predictors of Heart Failure Mortality Than Peak Oxygen Consumption

Mark Robbins, MD; Gary Francis, MD; Fredric J. Pashkow, MD; Claire E. Snader, MA; Kathy Hoercher, RN; James B. Young, MD; Michael S. Lauer, MD

From the George M. and Linda Kaufman Center for Heart Failure, Desk F25, Department of Cardiology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio.

Correspondence and reprint requests to Michael S. Lauer, MD, FACC, Section of Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation Medicine, Department of Cardiology, Desk F25, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44195.

Background—An abnormally low chronotropic response and an abnormally high ventilatory response (E/CO2) to exercise are common in patients with severe heart failure, but their relative prognostic impacts have not been well explored.

Methods and Results—Consecutive patients with heart failure referred for metabolic stress testing who were not taking ß-blockers or intravenous inotropes (n=470) were followed for 1.5 years. The chronotropic index was calculated while peak O2 and E/CO2 were directly measured. Chronotropic index and peak O2 were considered abnormal if in the lowest 25th percentiles of the patient cohort, whereas E/CO2 was considered abnormal if in the highest 25th percentile. For comparative purposes, a group of 17 healthy controls underwent metabolic testing as well. Compared with controls, heart failure patients had markedly abnormal ventilatory and chronotropic responses to exercise. In the heart failure cohort, there were 71 deaths. In univariate analyses, predictors of death included high E/CO2, low chronotropic index, low O2, low resting systolic blood pressure, and older age. Nonparametric Kaplan-Meier plots demonstrated that by dividing the population according to peak E/CO2 and peak O2, it is possible to identify low, intermediate, and very high risk groups. In multivariate analyses, the only independent predictors of death were high E/CO2 (adjusted relative risk [RR] 3.20, 95% CI 1.95 to 5.26, P<0.0001) and low chronotropic index (adjusted RR 1.94, 95% CI 1.18 to 3.19, P=0.0009).

Conclusions—The ventilatory and chronotropic responses to exercise are powerful and independent predictors of heart failure mortality.


Key Words: heart failure • mortality • exercise • heart rate • ventilation




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