Effects of Exercise Training on Diastolic Heart Function in Postmenopausal Women

This study is a prospective follow-up study to the Dose-Response to Exercise in Women (DREW) study. In DREW, 450 overweight, sedentary postmenopausal women were randomly assigned to either a non-exercise control group or to 1 of 3 weekly physical activity groups. The DREW study is evaluating the dose-response of exercise training in regard to changes in multiple cardiac risk factors. This study will measure diastolic heart function in a subset of the DREW population in order to examine the relationship between dose response, changes in physical activity, and diastolic function. Diastolic heart function will be assessed using both traditional and novel echocardiographic measures.