Heart Risk From Sedentary Lifestyle Reversed by Regular Exercise
Risk of heart failure could be reduced or reversed in middle age sedentary adults with 2 years of regular aerobic exercise training, according to the results of a recent study.
Poor fitness in middle age has been shown to be a risk factor for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, which is likely caused by increased left ventricular (LV) stiffness due to sedentary aging.
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The researchers conducted a prospective, parallel group, randomized controlled trial involving 53 healthy, sedentary, middle-aged adults assigned to either 2 years of exercise training (n=34) or attention control (n=27). The researchers performed right heart catheterization and 3-dimensional echocardiography to define LV end-diastolic pressure-volume relationships and Frank-Starling curves.
Overall, adherence to prescribed exercise was 88±11%. Vo2max increased by 18% (exercise training: pre 29.0±4.8 to post 34.4±6.4; control: pre 29.5±5.3 to post 28.7±5.4, group×time P<0.001) and LV stiffness was decreased (right/downward shift in the end-diastolic pressure-volume relationships; preexercise training stiffness constant 0.072±0.037 to postexercise training 0.051±0.0268, P=0.0018) in exercising participants, while controls saw no changes.
“In previously sedentary healthy middle-aged adults, 2 years of exercise training improved maximal oxygen uptake and decreased cardiac stiffness. Regular exercise training may provide protection against the future risk of heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction by preventing the increase in cardiac stiffness attributable to sedentary aging,” the researchers concluded.
—Michael Potts
Reference:
Howden EJ, Sarma S, Lawley JS, et al. Reversing the cardiac effects of sedentary aging in middle age—a randomized controlled trial: implications for heart failure prevention [published online January 8, 2017]. Circulation. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.117.030617.