Yoga-based cardiac rehab improved quality of life for people with heart failure in a trial of nearly 3,500 adults in India.

The Yoga-CaRe HF study ran across 16 Indian medical centres. It is the largest cardiac rehabilitation trial in the world.

Results were presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions in Chicago on 7 November 2026.

The trial was funded by ICMR and run by the Centre for Chronic Disease Control under Prof Dorairaj Prabhakaran.

It enrolled 3,492 adults whose heart pumps out 40% or less of its blood with each beat. Their median age was 57.

Patients got 20 supervised yoga sessions over three months, plus health education and help with setting goals.

At three months, the yoga group scored 8.1 points better on a heart failure quality of life questionnaire.

They also walked 25.5 metres further in a six-minute walk test than patients on enhanced standard care.

Yoga did not cut the combined rate of death, hospital stays or stroke. It was 21.0% against 22.8%, which was not significant.

India has 8 to 10 million people living with heart failure, and very few of them get cardiac rehabilitation.

The results are preliminary. They have not been peer-reviewed yet and will be published as a full paper later.

Read the full report on the yoga heart failure trial on Trends News Stories.

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