Changes from base line to week 16 in body weight,
body-surface area, and body-mass index did not differ
between the two randomized groups (Table 2). Table 3
shows exercise data for the 14 patients in the exercise
group who completed the metabolic exercise test at 16
weeks. Peak oxygen uptake increased significantly. The
maximal heart rate was unchanged, but the heart rate
at the submaximal workload was significantly lower at
16 weeks than at base line. Exercise systolic and diastolic
blood pressure and the rate–pressure product at
maximal and submaximal workloads were also signifi-
cantly lower at 16 weeks (Table 3).
The decrease in diastolic blood pressure at 16 weeks
in the patients randomly assigned to the exercise group
was significantly different from the slight increase in
those assigned to the no-exercise group. Differences in
the reductions in systolic blood pressure and resting
heart rate between the exercise group and the no-exercise
group approached significance. Among the patients
who completed 32 weeks of study, the change in diastolic
blood pressure from base line was significantly
greater in the exercise group (Table 4).
The echocardiographic data are shown in Table 5.
For 32 of the 46 patients (15 in the exercise group and
17 in the no-exercise group), complete data were available
at 16 weeks. There were no base-line differences
between patients for whom echocardiographic data
were available at 16 weeks and those for whom they
were not, except for trends toward lower values for
base-line posterior-wall thickness (P0.10) and higher
values for body-mass index (P0.13) in the patients
with echocardiographic data available. Eleven exercising
and 10 nonexercising patients had left ventricular
hypertrophy, defined as a left-ventricular-mass index
greater than 134 g per square meter of body-surface
area. At 16 weeks, the exercise group had significantly
larger reductions from base line in interventricular septal
thickness, left ventricular mass, and left-ventricularmass
index than the no-exercise group. Changes in left
ventricular systolic and diastolic dimensions, ejection
fraction, and fractional shortening were not significantly
different.