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Exercise program improved cardiorespiratory capacity in childhood-onset SLE patients
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A 3-month aerobic exercise program was safe and improved cardiorespiratory capacity and function in patients with childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus, according to recent study results.
Researchers studied 19 physically inactive patients with childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (C-SLE) and randomly assigned 10 patients into a supervised twice weekly moderate-intensity aerobic exercise program (trained [TR]; mean age, 12.9 years) for 12 weeks. The other nine patients were not trained (NT; mean age, 13 years). Ten healthy children (mean age, 12 years), matched for gender and BMI, were used as controls. The C-SLE patients were assessed at baseline and after program completion. Each session consisted of a warm-up, 20 to 50 minutes of aerobic training on a treadmill and a cool-down. Exercise tolerance and cardiorespiratory performance were main measurements.
After 12 weeks, C-SLE NT patients did not experience changes in cardiorespiratory parameters (P<.05). The C-SLE TR cohort, when compared with the C-SLE NT group, had significant improvement in time-to-exhaustion (P=.01; effect size [ES]=1.07), peak speed (P=.01; ES=1.08), peak oxygen consumption (P=.04; ES=0.86), chronotropic reserve (P=.06; ES=0.83), heart rate recovery at first minute (P=.003; ES=1.29) and heart rate recovery at second minute (P=.0008; ES=1.36). C-SLE TR patients and controls had comparable cardiorespiratory parameters after training, according to ANOVA analysis (P>.05). SLE Disease Activity Index-2000 scores remained stable during the study, and prednisone dosage was unchanged in both C-SLE cohorts after intervention.
“It is important to emphasize that the exercise program did not provoke disease flare,” the researchers reported.
“This study demonstrated for the first time that a 3-month supervised moderate-intensity aerobic exercise training program can be safe and effective in ameliorating the cardiorespiratory capacity and autonomic function in C-SLE patients,” the researchers concluded. “These findings stress the potential role of exercise training in the management of C-SLE, strengthening previous evidence of the beneficial effects of exercise in other pediatric rheumatic diseases.”
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