A structured yoga-based cardiac rehabilitation program significantly improved quality of life and physical function for people with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), according to late-breaking research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2026. The study, which enrolled nearly 3,500 adults across 16 medical centers in India, found that participants in the yoga-based program reported better quality-of-life scores and could walk farther than those who received enhanced standard care. However, the program did not significantly reduce the combined rate of death, hospitalization, or stroke.
The trial, led by Dr. Dorairaj Prabhakaran of the Centre for Chronic Disease Control in India, aimed to test an affordable and culturally acceptable alternative to traditional cardiac rehab, which is often inaccessible in low-resource settings. “Between 8 and 10 million people in India are living with heart failure, many of whom are typically 10 years younger, on average, compared to adults with heart failure living in high-income countries,” Prabhakaran said. Cardiac rehabilitation programs are medically guided and can lower the risk of another cardiac event, but participation rates are low, particularly among women and older adults, according to the 2025 American Heart Association Scientific Statement: Cardiac Rehabilitation in Women.
The yoga-based program, called Yoga-CaRe, included 20 supervised sessions over three months, followed by one session every three months, along with health education using a booklet. The control group received enhanced standard care with three education sessions. At three months, participants in the yoga group showed an approximately 8-point greater improvement on the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire, where lower scores indicate better quality of life. They also walked an average of 25.5 meters farther in six minutes compared to the control group.
Over a median follow-up of 15 months, 21.0% of participants in the yoga group experienced death, hospitalization, or stroke, compared to 22.8% in the standard care group—a difference that was not statistically significant. “The Yoga-CaRe program helped improve quality of life and physical function in people living with heart failure,” Prabhakaran said. “These results are potentially scalable and sustainable in settings where cardiac rehab is not easily available and resources are limited.”
The study has limitations, including the inability to blind participants to the intervention and the higher number of interactions with instructors in the yoga group, which could have influenced results. The findings are considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. Still, the research offers a promising approach for expanding cardiac rehab in underserved communities. As the American Heart Association notes, cardiac rehab can improve daily living and reduce future cardiac events, but cost and access remain barriers. This trial suggests that a low-cost, culturally tailored yoga program could help fill that gap, particularly in countries like India where heart failure affects millions at younger ages.
The American Heart Association, which hosted the meeting, receives more than 85% of its revenue from sources other than corporations, with overall financial information available here. For more information on cardiac rehab benefits, see How Will I Benefit from Cardiac Rehab? and the Core Components of Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs: 2024 Update. The full abstract is available in the 2026 Online Program Planner. Additional resources can be found on heart.org and stroke.org.
