This randomized clinical trial assesses whether moderate-intensity exercise training, compared with usual activity, improves exercise capacity in adults with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. During a 5-year period, 728 adult patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy were screened for trial eligibility, and 136 participants (16.9% with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy; 42% women; mean age, 50.4 years) were randomized into exercise training and usual-activity groups.

In this preliminary study involving patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, moderate-intensity exercise compared with usual activity resulted in a statistically significant but small increase in exercise capacity at 16 weeks. Further research is needed to understand the clinical importance of this finding in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, as well as the long-term safety of exercise at moderate and higher levels of intensity.

Read More