Age-Related Improvements in Peak Cardiorespiratory Fitness among Coronary Heart Disease Patients Following Cardiac Rehabilitation

• Published in: Journal of clinical medicine Vol. 8; no. 3; p. 310
• Main Authors: Banks, Laura, Cacoilo, Joseph, Carter, Jasmine, Oh, Paul I
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI 05.03.2019
• Subjects: aerobic exercise; cardiovascular disease; exercise testing; aging
• ISSN: 2077-0383; 2077-0383
• DOI: 10.3390/jcm8030310

While cardiorespiratory fitness (VO₂peak) can be improved with exercise and training, it is unclear whether older age is associated with an attenuated VO₂peak improvement among patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) who complete a cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program. A retrospective review of patient demographics and VO₂peak data from January 2012 to December 2017 was performed. CAD patients were included if they had successfully completed the supervised 6-month CR program (>75% of exercise prescription) and two VO₂peak assessments (respiratory exchange ratio (RER) >1.0). Among all patients, there was an improvement in VO₂peak from 21.1 ± 6.3 mL/kg/min to 26.5 ± 7.9 mL/kg/min (+26% ΔVO₂peak). Patients in the younger age category (age category 1: 30⁻39 years old) tended to have a greater percent of relative VO₂peak improvement when compared to all other age categories (e.g., adults 50 years of age and older). In the regression analysis, VO₂peak improvement was associated with younger age ( = -0.286, < 0.0001), after adjustment for the baseline VO₂peak ( = -0.456, < 0.0001), final prescribed exercise speed at CR program completion ( = 0.254, < 0.0001), body mass index ( = -0.172, < 0.0001), and male sex ( = 0.153, < 0.0001). Nonetheless, the study findings indicate that older adults who complete CR may be able to obtain clinically relevant improvements in VO₂peak of greater than 20%, and therefore, should be referred for CR.