Table 1. Causes of ventricular failure (28) Left sided ventricular Failure Right Ventricular Failure Volume overload Aortic or Mitral regurtitation Hyperdynamic circulation: anaemia, thyrotoxicosis

Left Sided Heart failure

Pressure Overload Hypertension Aortic stenosis

Cor Pulmonale Hypoxia induced vasoconstriction of pulmonary arterioles Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) Pulmonary embolism

Restricted filling of the heart Mitral stenosis Pericardial disease Amyloidosis

Precapillary obstruction Congenital Pulmonary Hypertension

Loss of Muscle Myocardial infarction Connective tissue disease

Right Ventricular failure Myocardial Infarction

Reduced contractility Alcohol Infections: bacterial and viral

Table 2. Four selected articles. Study Title Authors 1 (29) Tai Chi Exercise in Patients With

Chronic Heart Failure Yeh GY, McCarthy EP, Wayne PM, Stevenson LW, Wood MJ, Forman D et al

2 (30) Exercise training in older patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction: a randomised, controlled, single-blind trial

Kitzman DW, Brubaker PH, Morgan TM, Stewart KP, Little WC

3 (31) Efficacy and safety of exercise training in patients with chronic heart failure: HF-ACTION randomised controlled trial

O'Connor CM, Whellan DJ, Lee KL, Keteyian SJ, Cooper LS, Ellis SJ, et al

4 (32) Comparison of hospital-based versus home-based exercise training in patients with heart failure: effects on functional capacity, quality of life, psychological symptoms, and hemodynamic parameters

Karapolat H, Demir E, Bozkaya YT, Eyigor S, Nalbantgil S, Durmaz B, et al

Table 3. RCT critical appraisal questions applied to the four chosen studies (31).

Table 4. Studies and patient characteristics

Table 4 (cont). Studies and patient characteristics