Effects of combined aerobic and resistance training on cardiac rehabilitation outcomes in patients with heart failure

Abstract

Aim: to compare the influence of combined aerobic and resistance training (CART) on relevant outcomes of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in patients with heart failure (HF).

Method: We conducted a review of systematic reviews and meta-analyzes in PubMed and Web of Science up to March 2020. The ‘Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews 2’ (AMSTAR-2) tool was used to assess the methodological quality of the studies.

Results: A total of 600 articles were identified. Seven studies with a total of 45 different interventions and 2619 patients (mean age range = 43-81 years) with HF and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction were included. Two studies had a high level of confidence and 5 studies had a moderate level of confidence (AMSTAR-2). CART showed significant improvements in quality of life, aerobic capacity, and muscle strength compared to the control group, and tended to improve resting heart rate and VE/CO2 slope.

Conclusions: CART is an appropriate and necessary exercise intervention in the CR of patients with HF. More studies are needed to analyze the effects of CART on other relevant variables of CR identified in this review, such as depression and mortality.