what is coronary artery disease? summary, exercise & guidelines

CADExercise For Health.

Q: What is CAD?

A: Coronary artery disease (CAD) has various different

names, including coronary heart disease, and ischemic

or atherosclerotic heart disease. CAD progresses

through the build-up of plaque within the arteries of

the heart, a process called atherosclerosis. This leads

to narrowing of the coronary arteries and reduced

blood-flow to the heart

Q: What are the riskfactors for CAD?

A: Risk factors for CAD are age, male gender, physical

inactivity, high blood cholesterol, nonalcoholic fatty liver

disease, metabolic syndrome, impaired fasting glucose,

impaired glucose tolerance, type II diabetes, chest pain, prior

cardiovascular disease, smoking, abdominal obesity and

visceral adiposity, neck circumference, depression, erectile

dysfunction, periodontal disease, obstructive sleep apnea,

high white blood cell count, systemic inflammation, job

strain, kidney disease, COPD, hypertension, and androgen

excess in females

Q: Can exercise slow theprogression of CAD?

A: Exercise and physical activity appears to

lead to either regression or slowed

progression of CAD. Regression of CAD

appears to be observed most frequently in

patients expending around 2,200kcal/week in

physical activity (5 – 6 hours/week)

Q: Can interval trainingimprove cardiovascularfitness in CAD patients?

A: Interval training improves VO2-max, anaerobic

threshold and time to exhaustion in CAD patients.

Such improvements are likely to be more significant

than those achieved from steady-state aerobic

training. Optimal interval training routines for

adherence may include short durations of work

followed by passive recovery

Q: Is resistance traininguseful for patients with

CAD?

A: Resistance-training appears to be

effective for improving muscular strength,

muscular size, physical function, health-

related quality of life and general quality of

life in CAD patients

Q: Can exercise helpreduce mortality and

morbidity as a result ofCAD?

A: Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation

significantly reduces all-cause and

cardiovascular mortality and improves health-

related quality of life in CAD patients.

However, it probably does not significantly

reduce the risk of further non-fatal myocardial

infarctions occurring

Q: What are evidence-based recommendations

for using exercise incardiac rehabilitation?

A: Recommendations for patients with CAD are to

increase physical activity to 30 – 60 minutes per day

most days of the week and to perform both aerobic

exercise <5 days per week and resistance-training <3

days per week. Benefits are thought to accrue in a

dose-responsive fashion up to 10 hours per week of

all kinds of physical activity

For more information:www.exercise-for-health.com/coronary-artery-disease

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