Heart Failure After Attack Is Less Likely To Happen For Those With Strong Legs, Study Reveals

Research recently presented at the scientific congress Heart Failure 2023 revealed that those with stronger legs have a lesser likelihood of heart failure following a heart attack.

Heart Failure

According to EurekAlert, myocardial infarction is the most prevalent reason for heart failure. Roughly 6% to 9% of heart attack patients tend to develop the condition. Medical Xpress notes that prior studies have revealed that having stronger quadriceps is linked with a lower death risk among those battling coronary artery disease.

Now, the study examined the possible links between the risk of developing heart failure following acute myocardial infarction and leg strength. It covered 932 patients that were hospitalized in years 2007 and 2020 due to myocardial infarction. These participants did not have heart failure before they got admitted and did not experience complications pertaining to heart failure during their stay at the hospital.

Leg Strength

Wales Online adds that to gauge leg strength, maximal quadriceps strength was assessed and served as the indicator. Hence, to gauge leg strength, patients were asked to sit down and contract their quadriceps with their maximum strength for five seconds.

A dynamometer linked to their ankle tracked the maximum value in kilograms. This was done for each leg, while the average of both values was used by the researchers. Leg strength was also expressed relative to the participants' body weight. This meant that the strength of the quadriceps, measured in kilograms, was divided by the body weight in kilograms and multiplied by 100 to know the percentage of the body weight value.

Depending on whether the participants' values went below or above the median strength according to sex, each participant got a "low" or "high" classification.

For women, the median value was 33% body weight; while for men, it was 52% body weight. Among the total participants, 481 had high strength and 451 had low strength.

Link Between Leg Strength and Heart Failure

In a 4.5-year follow-up, on average, 67 patients were found to have heart failure. EurekAlert adds that heart failure incidence was 22.9 per 1000 years among patients with low strength and 10.2 per 1,000 person-years among those with high strength.

The scientists examined the links between heart failure risks and quadriceps strength. Factors known to be linked to heart failure following myocardial infarction were accounted for. In comparison to low quadriceps strength, high strength was linked with a 42% decreased risk of having heart failure.

They also examined leg strength as a continuous variable and its link with heart failure. The researchers found that for every 5% weight increment in leg strength, there was an 11% lower chance of developing heart failure.

Mr. Kensuke Ueno, a study author and physical therapist from the Graduate School of Medical Sciences at Kitasato University, explains that quadriceps strength is a simple and easy variable to accurately measure in clinical settings. Their study shows that leg strength could help pinpoint patients who have higher likelihoods of developing heart failure following myocardial infarction. Once identified, these patients could then garner higher surveillance compared to those with lower risk.

Such findings may need further replication, but they suggest that strength training in the quadriceps may be commended for those who experienced a heart attack in order to prevent them from developing heart failure.

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