ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

Minerva Pneumologica 2018 December;57(4):92-8

DOI: 10.23736/S0026-4954.18.01829-1

Copyright © 2018 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Feasibility of individualized aerobic threshold-based exercise on ventilatory efficiency in sedentary adult asthma patients

Ratko PERIC ¹ ✉, Franchek M. DROBNIC ², Julien S. BAKER ³

¹ Institute for Sport and Occupational Medicine, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina; ² Center d’Alt Rendiment, Sant Cugat del Valles, Barcelona, Spain; ³ Institute for Clinical Exercise and Health Sciences, School of Science and Sport, University of the West of Scotland, Hamilton, UK

BACKGROUND: The aim of this trial was to assess the feasibility of the future definitive study that will define the effects of aerobic threshold-based exercise on ventilatory efficiency in sedentary adult female asthma patients.
METHODS: Six female asthma patients performed an individualized aerobic training program for 7 weeks with their ventilatory parameters measured before and after exercise intervention using breath-by-breath gas analysis and graded treadmill test until volitional exhaustion. Paired samples t-test was used to compare baseline and control values.
RESULTS: Statistically significant changes in resting ventilatory equivalents for oxygen and carbon-dioxide, increases in exercise capacity, decrease of nadir ventilatory equivalents for oxygen and carbon-dioxide values and a shift of the aerobic threshold and associated heart rate toward higher exercise intensity were noted as a result of training adaptation (P<0.05). The participants’ medicament diary demonstrated a decrease in daily inhaled therapy and in personal rating of perceived exertion (P<0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest feasibility of individual aerobic threshold-based exercise contribution toward asthma control in asthma patients.

KEY WORDS: Physiology - Therapeutics - Rehabilitation