Congestive heart failure: extent of cardiac functional changes caused by aging and organ dysfunction

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Abstract
Thirty seven male subjects were recruited and assigned to the following groups. The first group (20y-Sed) consisted of sedentary untrained healthy men aged 21 (1.6) years (mean (SD), n = 12). The second group (60y-Sed) were 60 (2.9) years old (n = 14). They were screened by a medical history-lifestyle questionnaire and a treadmill ECG exercise stress test and considered to be free of overt cardiovascular disease. Subjects with any history of hypertension, diabetes, neuromuscular impairment, or cardiac or other medical conditions, or who were taking prescribed medications known to affect cardiovascular or respiratory function were excluded. The third group (60y-HF) consisted of 58.3 (3.2) year old patients with HF (n = 11). These patients were in New York Heart Association class III with impaired left ventricular systolic function and consisted of men with congestive HF secondary to idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy and ischaemic heart disease, who were undergoing clinically indicated cardiopulmonary exercise testing with a view to estimating prognosis and …