Heart failure (HF) affects over 5 million adults over the age of 65. Cardiac transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR-CM) is a cause of HF in ~10% of older adults and leads to significant morbidity and mortality. Exercise intolerance is traditionally attributed to cardiac dysfunction but the contribution of other systems to this has not been studied. Musculoskeletal involvement is common in ATTR-CM and occur 5-10 years prior to onset of HF. Tafamidis, a transthyretin stabilizer, is the only approved treatment for ATTR-CM. It slows disease progression, prolongs life, and reduces HF hospitalizations. However, it does not improve functional capacity- no therapeutic intervention has been shown to do so in ATTR-CM.~The idea behind this project is that skeletal muscle dysfunction from amyloidosis and HF severely limits exercise capacity and, thus, quality of life in ATTR-CM, and that targeted exercise training will improve quality of life by improving skeletal muscle performance and aerobic capacity. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) and the short physical performance battery (SBBP), including a leg extensor muscle power assessment will be used to achieve the following specific aims; 1) to compare skeletal muscle performance in ATTR-CM and non-amyloid HF; and 2) to determine improvements in aerobic capacity and quality of life due to 12 weeks of supervised exercise training in patients with ATTR-CM. To achieve the second aim, we will use a personalized exercise intervention.
Transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis causes debilitating heart failure in older adults. The proposed research will develop a personalized exercise training program to improve functional capacity in patients on optimal treatment for transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis. This is a vital next step to improve functional capacity and quality of life of people suffering from transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis.