Aim The purpose in the present study was to compare prognostic risk factors between older and younger chronic heart failure (CHF) patients. Methods We examined 598 consecutive CHF patients (476 men and 122 women, mean age 61.4 ± 14.3 years) who underwent cardiopulmonary exercise testing, echocardiography and blood examination. We divided the 598 patients into two groups: the elderly group (age ≥75 years, n = 123) and the young group (age <75, n = 475). We compared blood testing data, exercise capacity, cardiac function and prognosis between the two groups. Patients were followed up (median 782 days) to register cardiac deaths or rehospitalization as a result of worsening heart failure. Results Patients in the elderly group were associated with higher frequencies of atrial fibrillation and diuretic use than those in the young group. Patients in the elderly group had lower hemoglobin concentration, more impaired renal function, higher plasma B‐type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels, smaller left ventricular volume, longer deceleration time of early mitral wave and lower exercise capacity than those in the young group. There were 199 cardiac events during follow‐up periods. As expected, Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that patients in the elderly group had higher cardiac event rates than those in the young group. In the young group, multivariable Cox hazard analysis showed that hemoglobin concentration, log BNP and peak VO2 were independent predictors related to cardiac events. In contrast, in the elderly group, estimated glomerular filtration rate, atrial fibrillation and peak VO2 were independent factors to predict adverse clinical outcomes. Conclusions Prognostic factors were different between the elderly and young patients in CHF. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2014; ●●: ●●–●●.