Journal of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation and prevention
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J Cardiopulm Rehabil Prev · Nov 2010
Lung function and cardiovascular risk: effect of cardiac rehabilitation.
Reduced lung function, as measured by the forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) and the forced vital capacity (FVC), is an independent risk factor for increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Cardiac rehabilitation is known to reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. We therefore investigated whether cardiac rehabilitation would lead to an improvement in lung function. ⋯ Lung function improves in association with cardiac rehabilitation only in those participants with a baseline bmi 30 kg/m or higher, and these changes are inversely correlated with loss of weight. this finding suggests that obesity partly explains the association between lung function and cardiovascular risk.