Response to eLetter: Fascinating helpful article, but how typical were the patients with DCM and what does this tell us?

The Authors’ reply We are grateful to Dr Stuart1 for his interest in our paper.2 We agree entirely that our dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) cohort were indeed highly selected. Most individuals with DCM do not have the capacity to exercise intensively and would not fit in the differential diagnosis of an athlete’s heart with borderline or mildly reduced left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction. For the purposes of this study, we sought to identify individuals with a mild form of DCM who were motivated to and could exercise intensively for a prolonged …