Abstract

Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of mortality worldwide and can be prevented with strategies of control for modifiable risk factors. Objective: Verify the effect of an exercise program on modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Cardiopulmonary and metabolic rehabilitation center. Participants: Developed through the analysis of data from medical records from 2012 to 2018. Main outcomes measures: The proposed protocol was 30 sessions of aerobic exercise on a treadmill. The behavior of blood pressure, Body Mass Index (BMI), functional capacity (Six-Minute Walk Test- 6MWT), peripheral muscle strength (Chair-Stand Test-CST), exercise capacity (distance covered on the treadmill) was extracted from the medical records pre and post program. Results: The sample consisted of 83 subjects, hypertensive stage 1 (Systolic Blood Pressure- SBP 131.96±16.41mmHg; diastolic blood pressure- DBP 80.22±12.18mmHg) and obese BMI (30.66±5.37Kg/m2). After 30 sessions of aerobic exercise, subjects decreased blood pressure values (SBP: 117.73±12.28mmHg; DBP 69.89±10.83mmHg; p≤0.00), characterized as normal. There was also a slight non-significant decrease in body weight and BMI (30.48±5.48Kg/m2). The functional capacity improved (6MWT: 473.82±87.78 meters to 516.48±82.92 meters; p≤0.00), as well as the distance covered (2.001,45±437.23 meters to 2.931,45±353.44 meters; p≤0.00) and in the CST (12.40±3.61 to 14.66±3.29; p≤0.00). Conclusion: The protocol performed in this study demonstrated efficacy in the reduction of blood pressure, improving functional capacity, peripheral resistance and exercise capacity.

Keywords:Exercise; Cardiac rehabilitation; Physical therapy