Aerobic Physical Training On The Pulmonary Function Of Men With Coronary Arterial Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Objective: to evaluate the pulmonary function of patients with coronary arterial disease (CAD) before and after exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation program with emphasis on aerobic physical training. Methods: 19 men with CAD, divided in trained group TG (n=10) and control group CG (n=9) were studied. Forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) were carried out at 2 points for both groups: at the beginning and finale of the experimental protocol to evaluate and to compare the CG and TG. The CG participated in the evaluations only and is not subjected to any intervention, and the TG was submitted to 48 supervised aerobic physical training sessions to verify the effects of physical training on pulmonary function. Results: At the beginning of the study all the patients showed low values for FVC and FEV1 in relation to what was expected (CG: 72.2 ± 9.1% and 72.4 ± 16.3%, respectively; TG: 77.5 ± 12.1% and 75.2 ± 13.6%, respectively). After the training period, the CG values did not show any significant changes in comparison to the pre-training conditions for FVC (76.1 ± 11.5%) and FEV1 (75.4 ± 17.2%). In the TG there was a significant increase in both FVC (86.1 ± 12.1%) and FEV1 (86.0 ± 15.3%). Conclusion: There was a significant increase in FVC and FEV1 values in the TG patients after four months of participation in exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation program, and this fact suggests beneficial effects of aerobic exercise on the pulmonary function of patients with CAD.