Changes in BNP and cardiac troponin I after high-intensity interval and endurance exercise in heart failure patients and healthy controls

Abstract

Exercise training represents a cornerstone of contemporary cardiac rehabilitation. Recently, high-intensity interval training (HIT) has been popularized for heart failure (HF) patients (1) and may serve as a superior mode of exercise compared to traditional endurance exercise training. However, there is controversy regarding the safety (2) and the direct effects of HIT on the heart. Previous studies have demonstrated that an acute bout of exercise leads to an increase in cardiac troponin (cTn), a biomarker for cardiac injury, and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), a marker for cardiomyocyte stress (3,4). Exercise-induced elevation in these biomarkers is related to exercise intensity and duration (4,5), and may occur to a larger extend in patients with cardiovascular risk factors (6). To date, no previous study: 1. compared changes in cTn and BNP between endurance exercise and HIT, and 2. explored differences in exercise-induced changes in cTn and BNP between HF patients and controls.