What this Trial Is About

France has one million people with heart failure (HF). Exercise intolerance, characterised by dyspnoea, is the main clinical symptom in HF patients and a key determinant of reduced quality of life. In addition to drug and surgical treatments, cardiac rehabilitation programmes have shown benefits in heart failure patients. Lasting at least 3 weeks, these programmes improve physical abilities, quality of life and reduce the risk of hospitalisation for heart failure patients. To date, the real challenge is no longer to prove the benefits of cardiac rehabilitation, but to find solutions to maintain its long-term effects. The transition between the end of the supervised programmes in the centre and the return home is a difficult phase for the majority of patients who do not continue regular physical activity and thus quickly lose the benefits of the programme. To help maintain the benefits of cardiac rehabilitation, some centres offer patients programmes to continue physical activity during phase III. Although these options are often beneficial in the first few months after the end of rehabilitation compared to control groups, the long-term results are mixed. These results imply that one of these maintenance options may not be suitable for all patients. It is therefore important to propose a personalised post-rehabilitation follow-up involving the patient in the choice of physical activities to optimise the maintenance of long-term benefits. We hypothesise that patients who receive personalised support from a sport and health professional following rehabilitation maintain long-term benefits compared to a control group who do not receive this support.

Effect of Personalized Follow-up in Adapted Physical Activities in Subjects With Chronic Heart Failure.