ABSTRACT

　Introduction: The current exercise prescription, defined by a cardiopulmonary test （CPX） for patients with cardiovascular disease, makes it difficult to offer an appropriate aerobic exercise in accordance with the patients’ daily conditions. Heart rate variability （HRV） is the beat-to-beat alterations in heart rate, which reflects the cardiac autonomic nervous activity. Therefore, we examined whether real-time analysis of HRV makes it possible to determine the ventilatory threshold during cardiac rehabilitation sessions. Methods: A total of 25 patients （66±8 y/o, 22 males） with heart failure who underwent cardiac rehabilitation on a bicycle ergometer for 25 minutes were enrolled. The oxygen uptake （VO2） and high-frequency component （HF） quantified by the power spectral analysis of HRV reflecting the parasympathetic nervous tone, were continuously measured during the rehabilitation session. The workload was adjusted every 2 minutes so that the HF power was kept between 5 and 10. All the patients had undergone a CPX session within a week before their ventilatory threshold （VT） -VO2 determination and had the exercise intensity prescribed. We compared the VO2 during the rehabilitation session （re-VO2） to the VT-VO2 determined by the CPX.

DECENTE SPORTS SCIENCE Vol.41/The DESCENTE AND ISHIMOTO MEMORIAL FOUNDATION FOR THE PROMOTION SPORTS SCIENCE