To explore the dose-effect relationship of Astragalus granule (AG) on improving the quality of life (QOL) of the patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Ninety CHF patients of Fei (肺)-qi-deficiency and/or Xin (心)-Shen (肾) yang-deficiency syndromes were equally randomized divided with a random number table into three groups; they received the high (7.5 g)

moderate (4.5 g)

and low dosage (2.25 g) of AG orally taken twice a day

respectively

and 4 mg of perindopril tablet once a day for 30 successive days. The heart function grade

patients’ left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and walking distance in 6 min (6mWD) were measured before and after treatment

and the patients’ QOL was scored by the Minnesota Questionnaire for QOL evaluation in the patients with CHF at the same time. The heart function grades of all the three groups after treatment were improved compared with those before treatment

but the improvements in high-dose group and moderate dose group were better than that in the low dose group (P<0.05). LVEFs were increased significantly in all the three groups

but the improvements in the high-dose group (59.42%±7.50%) and moderate dose group (61.98%±6.82%) were better than that in the low dose group (51.45%±6.80%

P<0.01); the 6mWDs in the all groups were also significantly increased (P<0.01)

up to 419.80±36.23 m

387.15±34.13 m

and 317.69±39.97 m

respectively; and Minnesota scores in them were lowered to 29.59±4.69 scores

35.74±5.89 scores

and 42.78±6.06 scores

respectively; comparisons in aspects on 6mWD and Minnesota score showed that the effectiveness with high dose is the most effective

moderate dose as the second

and low dose as the lowest (P<0.01). AG was sufficient to display an optimal effect on improving heart contraction at the moderate dose. In aspects of improving the QOL of CHF patients

the effectiveness of AG showed a dose-dependent trend. It should be applied discriminatively depending on the actual condition of patients and the aim of treatment in clinic.