Exercise Training and Bleed Viscosity in Patients With Ischemic Heart Disease

Several studies have suggested that regular exercise in healthy persons improves blood viscosity.1–5 Regular exercise and exercise training have been shown to have several beneficial effects, including the prevention and modification of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes mellitus, and obesity, and to have a role in both the primary and secondary prevention of coronary vascular events.6 Whether exercise training, as prescribed in standard cardiac rehabilitation programs, can improve blood rheology has not been previously investigated. This study assesses whether a standard 10-week program of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise training had beneficial effects on whole blood viscosity and the factors that influence it among consecutive patients with ischemic heart disease who enrolled in cardiac rehabilitation.