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Adherence to recommended exercise guidelines in patients with heart failure

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Abstract

Exercise training has been shown to be beneficial in patients with heart failure, and its effectiveness is connected to adherence to the exercise program. Nonetheless, adherence to exercise in these patients remains a concern. Heart failure patients can be considered adherent to an exercise program if they meet 80 % of the recommended dose. We summarize exercise recommendations for patients with heart failure, identify exercise prescription methodologies used in studies that have reported exercise adherence, identify strategies and tools used to improve adherence and examine whether these strategies were developed using a theoretical platform with the primary aim to change behavior and improve adherence to exercise. Factors which may also impact adherence such as exercise setting, intensity and length of participation, gender, race, New York Heart Association functional class and heart failure with preserved and reduced ejection fraction were also investigated. Finally, recommendations for future studies for improving adherence to exercise in patients with heart failure are provided.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Nursing, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Commerce Court 1230 O Street, Suite 131, Lincoln, NE, 68588-0220, USA

    Pallav Deka & Bunny Pozehl

  2. Divison of Cardiology, Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, NE, USA

    Mark A. Williams

  3. College of Nursing, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA

    Bernice Yates

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  1. Pallav Deka
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  2. Bunny Pozehl
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Correspondence to Pallav Deka.

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All authors have made significant contributions to the study and endorse the data and conclusions. The authors have no potential conflict of interest.

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Deka, P., Pozehl, B., Williams, M.A. et al. Adherence to recommended exercise guidelines in patients with heart failure. Heart Fail Rev 22, 41–53 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10741-016-9584-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10741-016-9584-1

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