Quadriceps Strength Linked to Lower Risk for Heart Failure After AMI

FRIDAY, May 26, 2023 (HealthDay News) — A higher level of quadriceps isometric strength (QIS) is associated with a lower risk for developing heart failure after acute myocardial infarction (AMI), according to a study presented at the European Society of Cardiology Heart Failure 2023, held from May 20 to 23 in Prague.

Kensuke Ueno, P.T., from the Kitasato University Graduate School of Medical Sciences in Sagamihara, Japan, and colleagues examined the association between QIS, as a measure of skeletal muscle strength, and the risk for developing heart failure among 932 AMI patients without a history of heart failure or complications of heart failure during hospitalization.

The researchers found that 67 patients (7.2 percent) developed heart failure during an average follow-up of 4.5 years. The incidence of heart failure was 10.2 and 22.9 per 1,000 person-years in patients with high and low quadriceps strength, respectively. In adjusted analyses, a high QIS level was associated with a significantly lower risk for developing heart failure compared with low QIS (hazard ratio, 0.59). Each 5 percent body weight increment in QIS was associated with a lower likelihood of heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.89).

“Quadriceps strength is easy and simple to measure accurately in clinical practice. Our study indicates that quadriceps strength could help to identify patients at a higher risk of developing heart failure after myocardial infarction who could then receive more intense surveillance,” Ueno said in a statement. “The findings need to be replicated in other studies, but they do suggest that strength training involving the quadriceps muscles should be recommended for patients who have experienced a heart attack to prevent heart failure.”