Heart failure & cardiomyopathies
Prognostic Impact of Gait Speed, Muscle Strength and Muscle Mass in Chronic Heart Failure—A Prospective Cohort Study
Authors' conclusion
Higher GS was independently associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular death or worsening HF, whereas HG and ASMI were not. We prospectively confirm GS as a physical performance measure with clear prognostic significance for patients with HF.
Study context
- Population
- adults with stable chronic heart failure (HF) with a previous diagnosis of overtly reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) <40% and LVEF < 50% at enrolmentpatients analysed (78% male)
- Participants
- Two hundred five adults
- Exposure
- Prognostic impact of gait speed (GS), handgrip strength (HG) and appendicular skeletal muscle index (ASMI) on cardiovascular outcomes
- Outcome
- cardiovascular death or worsening HF
- Follow-up
- Median 4.7 (4.0-5.3) years
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Estimate (95% CI)
GSlower GS predicted a higher risk
SHR per 0.1 m/s increase 0.81(0.68–0.95)
HG
SHR per 5 kg increase 0.97(0.84–1.10)
ASMI
SHR per 1 kg/m² increase 1.17(0.94–1.44)
- Primary outcome observed in patients
- 52
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Baseline characteristics
- Median age
- 66 (quartiles: 58-74) years
- Diabetes mellitus
- 31%
- Median LVEF
- 37 (30-43) %
- Median GS
- 1.0 (0.8-1.0) m/s
- Median HG
- 32 (24-40) kg
- Median ASMI
- 8.0 (7.2-8.9) kg/m²
Effect modification
- Associations consistent across key clinical subgroups
Original publication
Prognostic Impact of Gait Speed, Muscle Strength and Muscle Mass in Chronic Heart Failure—A Prospective Cohort Study. ESC Heart Fail. Published 4 February 2025. doi:10.
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it