Grant: Project Grant

Heart failure (HF) is a frequent condition that develops when the heart is weakened or damaged. It affects 500,000 individuals in Canada, with 50,000 new cases being diagnosed each year, half of them being women. HF is associated with high mortality, poor quality of life and important economic costs. Symptoms, treatment and prognosis of HF vary with sex. Nearly one half of patients with HF shows cognitive impairment (e.g., memory and attention deficits) or dementia. There is currently no effective medical treatment to improve patients' cognition. In healthy older adults, interventions that involve cognitive training and physical exercise show positive effects on cognitive status. However, the impacts of such interventions in patients with HF are scarce, and to date no study investigated the effects of different training protocols on cognition according to sex of participants, although evidence suggests that sex would impact the response to training in older adults and would have a potential effect on treatment and prognosis of HF. The goal of this project is to determine the effects of combined cognitive training and physical exercise on cognition in individuals with HF, and to test whether patients' response to training will differ according to their sex. This project is expected to improve clinical care in elderly patients with HF by integrating non-pharmacological interventions to usual medical care.