title: Beneficial effects of combined exercise training on early recovery cardiopulmonary exercise testing indices in patients with chronic heart failure.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Exercise training induces several beneficial effects in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). This study investigated the effects of high-intensity aerobic interval training (AIT) compared with combined AIT and strength training (COM) on early ventilatory and metabolic recovery pattern after symptom-limited cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) in CHF patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Stable CHF patients (N = 42; 54 ± 10 years [mean ± SD], 35 males) participated in an exercise training program for 12 weeks, 3 times per week. Participants were randomly assigned to either AIT (n = 20) or COM group (n = 22). Cardiopulmonary exercise testing was performed before and after completion of the program. Primary measurements included absolute and percentage difference of oxygen uptake, carbon dioxide output, minute ventilation ((Equation is included in full-text article.)E), tidal volume (VT), respiratory rate, and the first-degree slope of oxygen uptake ((Equation is included in full-text article.)O2/t slope) and carbon dioxide output ((Equation is included in full-text article.)CO2/t slope) during the first minute of recovery after maximal exercise.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The COM group had a greater improvement in the absolute and the percentage difference of (Equation is included in full-text article.)E (P = .03 and P = .04, respectively) and respiratory rate (P = .02 and P = .01, respectively) during the first minute of recovery period after exercise compared with the AIT group alone. No significant changes were noted for VT measurements. A significant increase in (Equation is included in full-text article.)CO2/t slope was observed in COM compared with the AIT group (P = .01). There was a trend for a greater increase in (Equation is included in full-text article.)O2/t slope in the COM group (P = .07).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The addition of strength training to AIT induces significant beneficial effects in terms of ventilatory and metabolic recovery kinetics than AIT alone in CHF patients, possibly indicating greater ventilatory efficiency and metabolic improvement.
authors.affiliation: 1st Critical Care Medicine Department, Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing and Rehabilitation Laboratory (Drs Georgantas, Dimopoulos, Tasoulis, Karatzanos, Agapitou, Roditis, and Nanas) and 3rd Department of Cardiology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Drs Pantsios, Ntalianis, and Terrovitis), Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Georgantas
authors.forename: Stavros
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dimopoulos
authors.forename: Athanasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tasoulis
authors.forename: Eleftherios
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Karatzanos
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pantsios
authors.forename: Varvara
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Agapitou
authors.forename: Argyrios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ntalianis
authors.forename: Petros
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Roditis
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Terrovitis
authors.forename: Serafim
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nanas
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease; D015444:Exercise; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D055070:Resistance Training / Q000379:methods; D056152:Respiratory Rate; D013990:Tidal Volume; D016896:Treatment Outcome