Impacto da reabilitação cardiovascular na qualidade de vida, capacidade funcional e força muscular periférica em indivíduos com insuficiência cardíaca

Abstract

Heart failure (HF) remains a constantly growing global challenge and represents a major health economic burden as population aging progresses. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of cardiovascular rehabilitation on functional capacity, quality of life and peripheral muscle strength in individuals with HF. This is a quasi-experimental, quantitative study with a longitudinal design in patients with a clinical diagnosis of HF. Patients underwent a cardiovascular rehabilitation program twice a week for 8 weeks (16 sessions). They were evaluated before and after the intervention regarding functional capacity by the New York Heart Association (NYHA), peripheral muscle strength (by the palmar pressure test (PP) and the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) and quality of life by the Minnesota Living With Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ). Of the 20 rehabilitated patients, 40% reported NYHA 1 before rehabilitation and after, 70% reported NYHA 1 (p=0.031). In the 6MWT, there was an increase of 9.7% in the distance covered (p=0.049), in the PP test there was an increase of 13.8% in the strength of the dominant hand (MD) (p=0.011) and of 9.8% % non-dominant hand (MND) (p=0.096). In the MLHFQ, there was a 51% reduction (p=0.009). A correlation was verified between the 6MWT and the PPMD (r=0.607, p=0.005) and the 6MWT and the PPMND (r=0.594, p=0.006) after the intervention, with no correlation between the MLHFQ and the other variables. The study concludes that cardiac rehabilitation based on combined exercises is effective in improving the outcomes evaluated in patients with HF, and there may be a change in the NYHA classification.