Yoga-CaRe Trial Results
Supervised yoga-based cardiac rehabilitation improves quality of life and physical function in patients with heart failure, but it does not significantly reduce major clinical events like death or hospitalization, tctmd.com reported.
Results from the Yoga-CaRe study were presented at the American Heart Association 2026 Scientific Sessions. The trial randomized 3,492 adults with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction across 16 medical centers in India. Participants had a median age of 57 years, and 27% were women.
Quality-of-Life Improvements
Patients who participated in the yoga program reported better quality-of-life scores at 3 months, which served as a co-primary endpoint. Mirage News reported that participants in the yoga-based cardiac rehab group saw their Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire scores improve by about 8 points compared to the enhanced standard care group. Lower scores indicate better quality of life.
The intervention group also demonstrated greater improvements in walking distance and other measures of physical and emotional health. At 3 months, the mean difference in the 6-minute walk test was 25.5 meters favoring the yoga group, according to tctmd.com.
Yoga intervention showed no significant reduction in clinical events
The study did not meet its other co-primary endpoint regarding time to first composite event of all-cause death, all-cause hospitalization, or stroke. Ambalam Chandrasekaran of the Centre for Chronic Disease Control in New Delhi reported a 21% event rate in the yoga group compared to a 22.8% event rate in the control group. This translated to a hazard ratio of 0.90, which was not statistically significant.
Discussant Justin A. Ezekowitz of the University of Alberta noted that clinical trials testing various cardiac rehabilitation elements generally point toward a small, nonsignificant reduction in all-cause mortality and hospitalizations. However, Ezekowitz emphasized that improvements in quality of life and functional capacity remain consistent and highly significant without safety concerns.
Yoga program combined education with supervised exercise sessions
The yoga intervention combined written health education, tailored behavior change, and individual goal-setting with a standardized, structured supervised yoga program. After 3 months, patients received one additional session every 3 months through the 24 months of follow-up. Patients in the enhanced standard care group received written information and three health education sessions without supervised exercise.
Questions about the Yoga-CaRe study goals and participants
What was the primary clinical goal of the Yoga-CaRe study?
The study evaluated whether a supervised yoga-based cardiac rehabilitation program could improve quality of life and reduce major clinical events such as death, all-cause hospitalization, or stroke in heart failure patients.
How many patients participated in the trial?
A total of 3,492 adults with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction were randomized across 16 medical centers in India, with 1,737 patients in the yoga intervention arm and 1,755 in the enhanced standard care arm.
What specific improvements did the yoga group show at three months?
Patients in the yoga group achieved an 8.1-point greater improvement in their Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire scores and an average increase of 25.5 meters in the 6-minute walk test compared to the control group.