Samenvatting

Background: Congestive heart failure (CHF) has become an increasingly important public health problem. The rehabilitation of CHF patients have seen big changes in the last three decades; from bed rest being the preferred treatment in the 1980s, to the recognition of exercise training in CHF being safe and effective. In the last decade high intensity training (HIT) has emerged and might be more beneficial than moderate intensity training (MIT) in treating patients with CHF.
Objective: To find the effects of HIT on cardiovascular fitness (CVF) in CHF patients and to determine if HIT is more beneficial than MIT in improving CVF in this patient group.
Research Question: Is high intensity training superior to moderate intensity training in improving the cardiovascular fitness in congestive heart failure patients?
Method: A database search of PubMed and PEDro were searched to find potentially relevant randomised controlled trials. The PEDro scale was used to assess the methodological quality of the included articles. A best evidence synthesis was conducted to ensure the quality of the overall findings and level of evidence.
Results: After the search, eight articles were included in the study. The total amount of participants included in the study were 245, 194 male and 51 female. HIT was conducted with 30-second, 3-minute or 4-minute intervals. Three articles found a statistical significant difference in favor of HIT, while four articles had a stronger result with HIT, but not of statistical significance. Using the best evidence synthesis there was conflicting evidence regarding HIT being superior to MIT in increasing the CVF in CHF patients.
Conclusion: The findings and evidence of this study are conflicting and it is therefore not possible to conclude that HIT is superior to MIT in improving CVF in CHF patients. However, HIT can be considered a good and safe option to MIT for a selected population of stable CHF patients.