Skeletal muscle abnormalities in chronic heart failure

We compared 26 chronic heartfailure patients with 15 normal controls matchedfor age and aerobic capacity to determine whether the skeletal muscle abnormalities in patients with heartfailure are caused by deconditioning alone. Skeletal muscle characteristics were similar in women with and without heart failure. Men with heartfailure, however, had alterations in skeletal muscle that were not observed in men without heartfailure. Larger studies are needed to establish whether the underlying pathophysiology of the disease differs in men and women, as ourfindings suggest.