The Effects of Unsupervised Home-based Exercise Upon Functional Capacity After 6 Months of Discharge From Cardiac Rehabilitation: A Retrospective Observational Study

Abstract

Self-regulated exercising following CR discharge seems to be effective to maintain gains in exercise capacity acquired during supervised center-based programs.

The impact of exercise frequency upon microvascular endothelium function and oxidative stress among patients with coronary artery disease

“…Evidence indicates that patients presenting with CAD exhibit a reduction of approximately 36% of systemic microvascular blood flow response to ACh compared with healthy controls (Borges et al ., ). Moreover, Souza et al .…”

“…Microcirculatory tests were performed after a 20‐minute rest with the patients in the supine position in a temperature‐controlled room (23 ± 1°C) approximately 1 h after a light breakfast. Microcirculatory test was performed as previously described by our group (Cordovil et al ., ; Souza et al ., ; Borges et al ., ). Briefly, microvascular reactivity was assessed using a laser speckle contrast imaging system with a laser wavelength of 785 nm (PeriCam PSI system, Perimed, Järfälla, Sweden) in combination with the iontophoresis of acetylcholine (ACh) for non‐invasive and continuous measurements of cutaneous microvascular perfusion changes (in comparison with baseline, %).…”

“…Sample size calculation using GPower (version 3·0·10, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany) was based on the difference between groups for microvascular responses to ACh of 0·12APU mmHg −1 , with a standard deviation of 0·14APU mmHg −1 (Borges et al ., ). Assuming 70% of power and 5% significance level, a minimum of 11 patients in each group was necessary.…”

“…Despite numerous therapeutic advances during the past decade, coronary artery disease (CAD) remains the single most common cause of death globally (Anderson et al ., ). It is well known that CAD is mainly caused by atherosclerosis that comprises a series of inflammatory and oxidative damages resulting in endothelial dysfunction (Ross, ; Borges et al ., ,b). We have recently demonstrated, using laser‐based technology, that endothelial‐dependent systemic microvascular vasodilation is significantly impaired in patients with CAD compared to healthy subjects (Borges et al ., ).…”

“…Exercise training is a well-established non-pharmacological approach for patients with cardiovascular diseases (Nieuwland et al, 2000;Naci & Ioannidis, 2015). Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the benefits promoted by exercise among these patients, including improvements in peripheral vascular function, peak oxygen uptake (VO 2peak ), muscle function, exercise tolerance, and reduction in body mass (Wisloff et al, 2007;Borges & Lessa, 2015;Borges et al, 2016b). However, few studies have investigated the influence of exercise training on microcirculatory impairments observed in CAD (Olsen et al, 2015).…”