Brain Training Helps Heart Failure Patients.

• Position: DEMENTIA

Brain training could be helpful in patients coping with heart failure, suggests a study conducted by a team from Emory University, Atlanta, Ga., and published in The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

While heart failure is distressing alone, its interaction with cognitive decline creates a downward spiral. The study authors point out that heart failure "negatively impacts function in most cognitive domains," adversely affecting a patient's "capacity to participate in essential self-care activities, such as managing complex medication regimens and adhering to dietary restrictions."

The cognitive impact often is serious, with an estimated 25% to 50% of stable chronic heart failure patients experiencing pre-dementia conditions of mild to moderate impairment.

Exercise-plus-cognitive-training patients were measured with...