Background: Physical activity (PA) has proven benefits in the primary prevention of heart
diseases such as heart failure (HF). Although it is well known, HF PA habits and physicians’
advice have been poorly described. The aim of this study was to investigate if physicians were
advising HF patients to exercise and to quantify patients’ exercise profiles in a complex
cardiology hospital.
Methods: All 131 HF patients (80 male, average age 53 ± 10 years, NYHA class I–V, left
ventricular ejection fraction 35 ± 11%, 35 ischemic, 35 idiopatic, 32 hypertensive and 29 with
Chagas disease) went to the hospital for a HF routine check-up. On this occasion, after seeing
the physician , we asked the patients if the physician had advised them about PA. Then, we
asked them to fill in the international physical activity questionnaire (IPQA) Short Form to
classify their PA level.
Results: Our data showed a significant difference between patients who had received any
kind of PA advice from physicians (36%) and those who had not (64%,