Heart patients who exercise regularly and have better fitness are likely to have less cognitive impairment, says a study. Fitter patients have better memory, it adds.
“The message for the patients with heart failure is to do exercises,” said study author Ercole Vellone, Professor at University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy.
The study analysed data from over 600 male patients, aged 67-71 years, with heart failure from six countries. During the research, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment test was used to measure cognitive function and exercise capacity was measured with a six-minute walk test.
The results showed the younger and better educated heart failure patients with better fitness were significantly less likely to have cognitive impairment. According to the study, cognitive dysfunction is a common problem in the patients with heart failure with 67 per cent reporting at least mild impairment.
