Physical training after percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with stable angina: effects on working capacity, metabolism, and markers of inflammation.

OBJECTIVE: Physical activity is effective in primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that exercise training improves glucose and lipid metabolism, the inflammatory/anti-inflammatory balance, and the outcome of elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with stable coronary disease. METHODS: Sixty-two patients scheduled to undergo PCI for stable angina were randomized to intensive physical activity (n=33) consisting of home-based exercise on a bicycle ergometer or maintain their usual sedentary life (n=29). The training program started 2 months before PCI and terminated 6 months afterwards. Clinical examination, blood sampling (fasting glucose, glycated hemoglobin, lipid profile, apolipoprotein B, apolipoprotein A1, C-reactive protein, serum amyloid A, interleukin-6, interleukin-8, and interleukin-10), and maximal exercise tests were performed at inclusion, 1 week before PCI, and 3 and 6 months afterwards. RESULTS: Fifty-six patients [28 per group, 45 men, mean age 63 (SD 7.8) years] completed the follow-up. According to self-reports, patients in the training group exercised more often and longer [4.9 (SD 1.1) vs. 0.6 (SD 1.3) days/week, 36 (SD 12) vs. 15 (SD 31) min/session, P<0.0001]. Improvement in maximal exercise capacity was significantly better in the training group [27 (SD 27) vs. 9 (SD 27) W, P=0.02]. Exercise had no significant effects on glucose and lipid metabolism, plasma cytokines, or acute-phase reactants. CONCLUSION: A home-based training program significantly improved maximal exercise capacity but did not affect glucose or lipid metabolism or markers of inflammation.

Nurses' clinical experiences of the inverse bed position on a neurointensive care unit--a phenomenographic study.

Our knowledge of unstable critically ill patients placed in an inverse bed position on the neurointensive care unit (NICU) is fairly limited. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the variation in nurses' conceptions of the impact of clinical experiences on the care and working environments among patients with the head towards the centre of the room on an NICU. An important research question was: how is the nursing care of patients facing inwards on an NICU perceived? Interviews were conducted and analysed with 15 nurses, using the method of phenomenography. From a nursing perspective, four descriptive categories were found, which partly distinguished the nursing psychosocial environment from the physical environment. These were safety and security of mobile computer tomography (CT) on the NICU, availability and overview, integrated holistic view in an open nursing psychosocial environment and adaptation of practical equipment. In conclusion, inverse bed position is important for more individualised neurointensive nursing care among unstable patients subjected to frequent CT scans on the unit. More stable patients should be turned back to the traditional bed position in order to promote their recovery process. This new knowledge is important for the development of quality assurance, with regard to, amongst other things, the patient's dignity.