Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases are one of the major causes of death in the world and physical activity is one of the most effective ways to help improve the cardiovascular condition. This research aimed to investigate the serum cardiotrophin-1 (CT-1) levels and rate pressure product (RPP) of cardiac patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in response to a course of moderate-intensity aerobics exercises.
Methods: 30 cardiac patients, with a mean age of 55 ± 6.08 years, and a mean weight of 80.35 ± 14.13 kg were randomly assigned into two training (n=15) and control (n=15) groups, two months after their CABG or PCI surgery. The training group practiced for eight weeks and three 45-minute sessions per week on a treadmill and a manual ergometer with an average intensity between 45 and 70% of the reserve heart rate and 7 to 15 points on the Borg rating of perceived exertion (RPE) scale. Blood samples were drawn from both experimental and control groups 48 hours before the first session and 48 hours after the last session. For data analysis, mixed model analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed at the significance level of P≤0.05. The Graph Pad software (Prism) was used to draw the graphs.
Results: No significant changes in CT-1 serum levels were observed in the training (p=0.382) and the control group (p=0.753), however, there was a significant decrease in RPP only in the training group (P=0.041) and no significant change was observed in the control group (P=0.753).
Conclusion: Moderate-intensity aerobic exercise causes a significant decrease in RPP without increasing serum CT-1 levels in heart disease patients undergoing CABG or PCI, which indicates a decrease in oxygen consumption of heart tissue.