Avaliação da função cardiovascular e qualidade de vida em pacientes com insuficiência cardíaca com e sem comportamento sedentário / Evaluation of cardiovascular function and quality of life in patients with heart failure with and without sedentary behavior

RESUMO: Fundamentos e objetivos: Apesar dos reconhecidos benefícios da prática de atividade física em pacientes com doença cardiovascular, acredita-se que pacientes com insuficiência cardíaca e fração de ejeção reduzida com comportamento não sedentário, mesmo que não pratiquem exercício físico regular, apresentem melhora da função cardiovascular e qualidade de vida em comparação a pacientes sedentários. Objetivo: comparar a capacidade funcional, função ventricular e quali-dade de vida de pacientes com insuficiência cardíaca sedentários e não sedentários. Métodos: Foram avaliados pacientes com Insuficiência Cardíaca e Fração de ejeção <50%, sendo compostos dois grupos, sedentários (n=45) e não sedentários (n=36), de acordo com o Questionário Internacional de Atividade Física. Os grupos foram submetidos à avaliação clínica e de qualidade de vida, teste de caminhada de Cooper, ecocardiograma e comparação pelo teste Qui-Quadrado para variáveis categóricas ou teste T de Student ou Mann-Whitney para variáveis contínuas. Nível de significância de 5%. Resultados: Os grupos foram homogêneos em relação às características basais e etiologia. Os pacientes do Grupo Não Sedentário apre-sentaram menos sintomas limitantes (p<0,01), menor necessidade de digitálicos (p=0,02), melhor fração de encurtamento ventricular (p=0,03) e menor aumento do volume indexado do átrio esquerdo (p=0,004). Não foram encontradas diferen-ças no teste de caminhada entre os grupos. Houve maior prejuízo do quesito capacidade funcional da qualidade de vida do grupo Sedentário. Conclusão: Considerando a limitação da amostra, pacientes com insuficiência cardíaca e comporta-mento não sedentário apresentam maior tolerabilidade ao exercício por apresentarem sintomas menos limitantes, melhor função ventricular e melhor qualidade de vida no quesito capacidade funcional quando comparados a pacientes sedentáriosRESUMOFundamentos e objetivos: Apesar dos reconhecidos benefícios da prática de atividade física em pacientes com doença cardiovascular, acredita-se que pacientes com insuficiência cardíaca e fração de ejeção reduzida com comportamento não sedentário, mesmo que não pratiquem exercício físico regular, apresentem melhora da função cardiovascular e qualidade de vida em comparação a pacientes sedentários. Objetivo: comparar a capacidade funcional, função ventricular e quali-dade de vida de pacientes com insuficiência cardíaca sedentários e não sedentários. Métodos: Foram avaliados pacientes com Insuficiência Cardíaca e Fração de ejeção <50%, sendo compostos dois grupos, sedentários (n=45) e não sedentários (n=36), de acordo com o Questionário Internacional de Atividade Física. Os grupos foram submetidos à avaliação clínica e de qualidade de vida, teste de caminhada de Cooper, ecocardiograma e comparação pelo teste Qui-Quadrado para variáveis categóricas ou teste T de Student ou Mann-Whitney para variáveis contínuas. Nível de significância de 5%. Resultados: Os grupos foram homogêneos em relação às características basais e etiologia. Os pacientes do Grupo Não Sedentário apre-sentaram menos sintomas limitantes (p<0,01), menor necessidade de digitálicos (p=0,02), melhor fração de encurtamento ventricular (p=0,03) e menor aumento do volume indexado do átrio esquerdo (p=0,004). Não foram encontradas diferen-ças no teste de caminhada entre os grupos. Houve maior prejuízo do quesito capacidade funcional da qualidade de vida do grupo Sedentário. Conclusão: Considerando a limitação da amostra, pacientes com insuficiência cardíaca e comporta-mento não sedentário apresentam maior tolerabilidade ao exercício por apresentarem sintomas menos limitantes, melhor função ventricular e melhor qualidade de vida no quesito capacidade funcional quando comparados a pacientes sedentários. (AU)

ABSTRACT: Purpose: Despite the recognized benefits of practicing physical activity in patients with cardiovascular disease, it is believed that patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction with non-sedentary behavior may present an improvement in cardiovascular function and quality of life compared to sedentary patients, even if they do not practice regular physical ex-ercise. The aim of the present study was to compare functional capacity, systolic and diastolic cardiac function and quality of life of sedentary and non-sedentary patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction. Methods: Patients with heart failure and ejection fraction below 50% were divided into two groups, Sedentary (n = 45) and Non-Sedentary (n = 36), using the IPAQ questionnaire. These two groups were evaluated with clinical evaluation, quality of life SF-36 questionnaire, Cooper walking test and transthoracic echocardiography. They were compared by Chi-Square test for categorical variables or Test T or Man-Whitney for continuous variables; the level of significance adopted in the statistical analysis was 5%. Results: The groups were homogeneous in relation to the baseline characteristics and etiology. The Non-Sedentary Group had fewer patients with severe symptoms (p <0.01), less necessity of digitalis (p = 0.02) and better left ventricle fractional shorten-ing (p = 0.03). There was no apparent difference in the walk-test data between groups. Additionally, there was a greater impairment in the functional capacity of the SF-36 Questionnaire in the Sedentary Group. Conclusion: Considering the sample limitation, patients with heart failure and non-sedentary behavior have greater tolerability to exercise because they have fewer limiting symptoms and better quality of life in the functional capacity domain than sedentary patients.

Is pelvic floor muscle training able to alter the response of cardiovascular autonomic modulation and provide a possible cardiovascular benefit to pregnant women?

AIMS: To evaluate the acute and chronic effect of an exercise protocol of pelvic floor muscles (PFMs) contraction on the heart period (HP) and systolic arterial pressure (SAP) variabilities and baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) at rest in pregnant women; and to evaluate if this progressive exercise protocol was well-tolerated by the pregnant women studied. METHODS: We evaluated 48 women at 18 weeks of pregnancy by vaginal palpation, vaginal manometry, and cardiopulmonary exercise test. They were divided in control (CG; 31.75 ± 3.91 years) and training groups (TG; 30.71 ± 3.94 years). At 19 and 36 weeks of pregnancy, electrocardiogram and noninvasive peripheral SAP data were collected at rest before and after 10 PFM contractions. TG performed PFMT from the 20th to the 36th week. HP and SAP variabilities were analyzed by spectral and symbolic analysis. The baroreflex was evaluated by cross-spectral analysis between the HP and SAP series. RESULTS: The groups did not differ in relation to VO2 , HP and SAP variabilities, and BRS at the beginning of the protocol. TG increased the endurance of the PFM after training. PFM contraction did not change the HP and SAP variabilities, and BRS at the 18th week. After the training, the TG presented lower SAP mean, lower BF of SAP variability, and higher BRS than CG. CONCLUSIONS: Acute PFM contractions did not alter HP and SAP variabilities and BRS, but PFMT resulted in a lower SAP mean and higher BRS in trained pregnant when compared to the untrained.

Influence of age and gender on the phase and strength of the relation between heart period and systolic blood pressure spontaneous fluctuations.

Aging affects baroreflex regulation. The effect of senescence on baroreflex control was assessed from spontaneous fluctuations of heart period (HP) and systolic arterial pressure (SAP) through the HP-SAP gain, while the HP-SAP phase and strength are usually disregarded. This study checks whether the HP-SAP phase and strength, as estimated, respectively, via the phase of the HP-SAP cross spectrum (PhHP-SAP) and squared coherence function (K2HP-SAP), vary with age in healthy individuals and trends are gender-dependent. We evaluated 110 healthy volunteers (55 males) divided into five age subgroups (21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, and 61-70 yr). Each subgroup was formed by 22 subjects (11 males). HP series was extracted from electrocardiogram and SAP from finger arterial pressure at supine resting (REST) and during active standing (STAND). PhHP-SAP and K2HP-SAP functions were sampled in low-frequency (LF, from 0.04 to 0.15 Hz) and in high-frequency (HF, above 0.15 Hz) bands. Both at REST and during STAND PhHP-SAP(LF) showed a negative correlation with age regardless of gender even though values were more negative in women. This trend was shown to be compatible with a progressive increase of the baroreflex latency with age. At REST K2HP-SAP(LF) decreased with age regardless of gender, but during STAND the high values of K2HP-SAP(LF) were more preserved in men than women. At REST and during STAND the association of PhHP-SAP(HF) and K2HP-SAP(HF) with age was absent. The findings points to a greater instability of baroreflex control with age that seems to affect to a greater extent women than men. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Aging increases cardiac baroreflex latency and decreases the degree of cardiac baroreflex involvement in regulating cardiovascular variables. These trends are gender independent but lead to longer delays and asmaller degree of cardiac baroreflex involvement in women than in men, especially during active standing, with important implications on the tolerance to an orthostatic stressor.