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Beneficial effects of cardiac rehabilitation and exercise after percutaneous coronary intervention on hsCRP and inflammatory cytokines in CAD patients

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Abstract

Recent studies showed that tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), as well as high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels are predictive factors of cardiovascular risk. However, the effect of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) intervention in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients on these factors is not known. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of CR and exercise on hsCRP and inflammatory cytokine levels in patients with CAD after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). CAD patients who underwent PCI were divided into a CR and exercise group (CRE, n = 29) or a control group (CON, n = 10). CR and exercise consisted of 6 weeks supervised exercise training and 8 weeks home-based, self-managed exercise. Compared to pre-experimental levels, TNF-α (by 20.4%; p = 0.006) and IL-6 (by 49.0%; p < 0.0001), as well as hsCRP (by 59.4%; p < 0.0001), were markedly decreased after CR and exercise in CAD patients but not in control group, except for IL-6 (by 41.6%; p = 0.001). However, there was no significant alteration of adiposity-related variables such as BMI, percent body fat, and waist circumferences, in both groups. We suggest that CR and exercise in CAD patients after PCI induce significant reduction in hsCRP and inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α and IL-6), and marked increase in exercise tolerance and capacity.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Regional Innovation Center (RIC) of Soonchunhyang University. Young-Joo Kim, Young-Oh Shin, and Jun-Sang Bae contributed equally to this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Soonchunhyang University, 366-1, Ssang yong-dong, Cheonan, 330-090, Republic of Korea

    Young-Oh Shin, Jun-Sang Bae, Jeong-Beom Lee, Joo-Hyun Ham, Young-Ki Min & Hun-Mo Yang

  2. Department of Nursing, College of Medicine, Soonchunhyang University, Cheonan, Republic of Korea

    Youn-Jung Son

  3. Department of Leisure Sports, Kangwon National University, Samcheok, Republic of Korea

    Jung-Kyu Kim

  4. Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, College of Medicine, Inje University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Young-Joo Kim & Chul Kim

  5. Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Inje University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Byoung-Kwon Lee

  6. Department of Sports Medicine, Korea National Sport University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Jae-Keun Oh

  7. Huntingdon Life Sciences, Princeton Research Center, Somerset, NJ, USA

    Timothy Othman

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  1. Young-Joo Kim
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Correspondence to Jeong-Beom Lee.

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Kim, YJ., Shin, YO., Bae, JS. et al. Beneficial effects of cardiac rehabilitation and exercise after percutaneous coronary intervention on hsCRP and inflammatory cytokines in CAD patients. Pflugers Arch - Eur J Physiol 455, 1081–1088 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00424-007-0356-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00424-007-0356-6

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