The initial slope of the VCO2/VO2-curve (s1) in cardiopulmonary exercise testing is a strong and independent predictor of outcome in patients with previous myocardial infarction.

Background: Detecting heart failure (HF) patients at risk is a relevant clinical problem. Our goal was to define associations of clinical HF-markers and exercise parameters with respect to their prognostic power in HF-patients.

Methods: We performed cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) in 103 ischemic HF-patients.