Table 1.

Characteristics of healthy controls and patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) before (pre) and after (post) 8 weeks of knee‐extensor exercise training

	Controls	HFrEF pre	HFrEF post
Age (years)	51 ± 8	54 ± 14	54 ± 14
Height (cm)	179 ± 7	182 ± 6	182 ± 6
Body mass (kg)	90 ± 11	100 ± 4	101 ± 4
Quadriceps muscle mass (kg)	2.4 ± 0.4	2.6 ± 0.1	3.0 ± 0.1*#
NYHA class	−	II–III	II–III
KE maximum cardiac output (l/min)	10.9 ± 1.2	9.0 ± 1.2	9.4 ± 1.1
Peak pulmonary cycle ${\dot{V}}_{{\mathrm{O}}_2}$ (l/min)	2.14 ± 0.10	1.63 ± 0.09#	2.02 ± 0.15*
Peak pulmonary cycle ${\dot{V}}_{{\mathrm{O}}_2}$ (ml/kg/min)	24.1 ± 1.1	15.3 ± 1.8#	18.6 ± 1.6*#
Maximum cycle work rate (W)	148 ± 8	115 ± 13#	141 ± 16*
Cycle maximum cardiac output (l/min)	16.8 ± 0.8	13.6 ± 1.2#	14.3 ± 1.4#
Medications (fraction of users)
Digoxin	−	5/5	5/5
Diuretics	−	5/5	5/5
Long‐acting nitrates	−	3/5	3/5
Statins	−	4/5	4/5
Aspirin	−	3/5	3/5
β‐Blockers	−	4/5	4/5
Warfarin	−	2/5	4/5
ACE inhibitors	−	2/5	4/5
Ca2+ channel blockers	−	2/5	4/5

NYHA, New York Heart Association; KE, knee‐extensor; ${\dot{V}}_{{\mathrm{O}}_2}$, oxygen uptake. Data are expressed as mean ± SE. ^* P<0.05 post vs. pre; ^# P<0.05 HFrEF vs. controls.