Here is a summary of Coronary Artery Disease from Exercise For Health: Risk Factors, Exercise & Guidelines.

1. CAD
Exercise For Health.

2. Q: What is CAD?

3. A: Coronary artery disease (CAD) has various different
names, including coronary heart disease, and ischemic
or atherosclerotic heart disease. CAD progresses
through the build-up of plaque within the arteries of
the heart, a process called atherosclerosis. This leads
to narrowing of the coronary arteries and reduced
blood-flow to the heart

4. Q: What are the risk
factors for CAD?

5. A: Risk factors for CAD are age, male gender, physical
inactivity, high blood cholesterol, nonalcoholic fatty liver
disease, metabolic syndrome, impaired fasting glucose,
impaired glucose tolerance, type II diabetes, chest pain, prior
cardiovascular disease, smoking, abdominal obesity and
visceral adiposity, neck circumference, depression, erectile
dysfunction, periodontal disease, obstructive sleep apnea,
high white blood cell count, systemic inflammation, job
strain, kidney disease, COPD, hypertension, and androgen
excess in females

6. Q: Can exercise slow the
progression of CAD?

7. A: Exercise and physical activity appears to
lead to either regression or slowed
progression of CAD. Regression of CAD
appears to be observed most frequently in
patients expending around 2,200kcal/week in
physical activity (5 – 6 hours/week)

8. Q: Can interval training
improve cardiovascular
fitness in CAD patients?

9. A: Interval training improves VO2-max, anaerobic
threshold and time to exhaustion in CAD patients.
Such improvements are likely to be more significant
than those achieved from steady-state aerobic
training. Optimal interval training routines for
adherence may include short durations of work
followed by passive recovery

10. Q: Is resistance training
useful for patients with
CAD?

11. A: Resistance-training appears to be
effective for improving muscular strength,
muscular size, physical function, health-related
quality of life and general quality of
life in CAD patients

12. Q: Can exercise help
reduce mortality and
morbidity as a result of
CAD?

13. A: Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation
significantly reduces all-cause and
cardiovascular mortality and improves health-related
quality of life in CAD patients.
However, it probably does not significantly
reduce the risk of further non-fatal myocardial
infarctions occurring

14. Q: What are evidence-based
recommendations
for using exercise in
cardiac rehabilitation?

15. A: Recommendations for patients with CAD are to
increase physical activity to 30 – 60 minutes per day
most days of the week and to perform both aerobic
exercise <5 days per week and resistance-training <3
days per week. Benefits are thought to accrue in a
dose-responsive fashion up to 10 hours per week of
all kinds of physical activity

16. For more information:
www.exercise-for-health.com/coronary-artery-disease

17. Exercise For Health.