Respiratory Muscle Weakness in Patients with Heart Failure: Time to Make It a Standard Clinical Marker and a Need for Novel Therapeutic Interventions?

Dysfunction of the respiratory muscles (particularly the diaphragm) can compromise ventilation, pulmonary gas exchange, and oxygen delivery to the tissues. This is especially true for patients with heart failure (HF), where a loss in respiratory muscle strength and endurance capacity is common.¹‾⁴ Inspiratory muscle weakness in HF causes heightened breathlessness, exertional intolerance, and reduces health-related quality-of-life.⁵‾⁷ The clinical importance of respiratory muscle weakness has also been clearly demonstrated.