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- Title
Low-Intensity Exercise Training Increases Heart Rate Variability in Patients With Peripheral Artery Disease.
- Authors
Brenner, Ingrid K. M.; Brown, C. Ann; Hains, Sylvia J. M.; Tranmer, Joan; Zelt, David T.; Brown, Peter M.
- Abstract
Patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD), consistent with others with atherosclerotic occlusive disorders, have autonomic dysfunction (as measured by low heart rate variability [HRV]) that predisposes them to sympathetically mediated cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death. Exercise therapy has been shown to increase HRV in patients with coronary artery disease by increasing parasympathetic modulation of heart rate. This study quantified the circulatory and autonomic effects of a progressive, 12-week home-based, low-intensity (pain-free walking) exercise program in PAD and intermittent claudication. Participants (N = 33, mean age 67.8 8.1 years) were randomly assigned to either a walking group (n = 18), whose members performed a structured, 12-week, progressive walking program 5 days/week for 12 weeks, or a comparison group (n = 15), whose members performed usual activities. Circulatory measures (heart rate, blood pressure, and rate pressure product) and autonomic measures (HRV) were obtained at the beginning (Week 1) and end (Week 12) of the study. Minimal change in circulatory measures occurred. However, spectral analysis of HRV revealed that autonomic function improved significantly in members of the walking group; specifically, there was an increase in parasympathetic and a decrease in sympathetic modulation. Members of the walking group also significantly increased maximal walking distance. These findings suggest that a structured, low-intensity, high-frequency walking program improves autonomic function by increasing HRV in patients with PAD.
- Subjects
AUTONOMIC nervous system physiology; ANALYSIS of variance; EXERCISE physiology; HEART beat; INTERMITTENT claudication; PERIPHERAL vascular diseases; RESEARCH funding; STATISTICAL sampling; WALKING; TREADMILLS; BODY mass index; RANDOMIZED controlled trials; EXERCISE intensity; DATA analysis software
- Publication
Biological Research for Nursing, 2020, Vol 22, Issue 1, p24
- ISSN
1099-8004
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1177/1099800419884642