Abstract
Purpose
To quantify the relationship between the change in exercise dose and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a cohort of patients participating in a community-based phase-3 cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program.
Methods
A retrospective, pre-experimental (no control group) design of 58 participants that completed a phase-3, 12-week exercise-based CR program was used to test the current hypothesis. Self-reported HRQoL (36-Item Short Form Health Survey Version 2, SF-36v2) was assessed prior and after completing the CR program. The change in exercise dose was estimated from the assigned training load in weeks 1 and 12 of the CR program. A series of regression models were fitted to ascertain the relationship between the change in exercise dose and changes in the SF-36v2.
Results
There was a strong quadratic trend between the change in exercise dose and the mean change in SF-36 Mental and Physical Health Summary Scores. Analysis of covariance showed that the mean changes in the SF-36 Summary Scores statistically fluctuate across quartiles of exercise dose. The data show that there is a threshold amount of increase in exercise (Q2; 350–510 kcal week− 1) needed to HRQoL and that greater amounts of exercise dose (Q3; 511–687 and Q4 ≥ 688 kcal week− 1) did not improve HRQoL further.
Conclusions
The current findings suggest that physical and mental health-related quality of life are improved with a phase-3 CR program. The dose–response relationship observed indicates that a threshold exercise dose is required to improve HRQoL, and that larger doses of exercise do not confer further improvements in HRQoL.
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Acknowledgements
The Faculty of Science, University of Auckland, funded this study. We thank the participants in this study and all staff involved in the Health and Performance Clinics of the University of Auckland for all the support provided during the study.
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del Pozo-Cruz, B., Carrick-Ranson, G., Reading, S. et al. The relationship between exercise dose and health-related quality of life with a phase III cardiac rehabilitation program. Qual Life Res 27, 993–998 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-018-1784-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-018-1784-9