Research progress on the effect of exercise rehabilitation on skeletal muscle in patients with heart failure / 中华全科医师杂志

Heart failure(HF) can adversely affect various peripheral tissues in the body, including the skeletal muscle. HF leads to pathological changes in skeletal muscle, causing structural damage, functional impairment and atrophy of the skeletal muscle, which may eventually develope into cardiac cachexia. The skeletal muscle atrophy is also a prominent symptom of cachexia in HF patients, and it is also an independent risk factor of mortality in the patients. While exercise rehabilitation may attenuate skeletal muscle atrophy and improve the quality of life in HF patients. This article reviews the recent progress on the effect and related mechanisms of exercise rehabilitation on skeletal muscle atrophy in patients with HF.