Effects of Exercise Rehabilitation on Cardiac Electrical Instability Assessed by T-Wave Alternans During Ambulatory Electrocardiogram Monitoring in Coronary Artery Disease Patients Without and With Diabetes Mellitus

Effects of exercise rehabilitation on electrocardiographic markers of risk for sudden cardiac death have not been adequately studied. We examined effects of controlled exercise training on T-wave alternans (TWA) in 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiogram recordings in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) without and with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). Consecutive patients with angiographically confirmed CAD were recruited to join the ARTEMIS (Innovation to Reduce Cardiovascular Complications of Diabetes at the Intersection) study. Exercise (n = 65) and control groups (n = 65) were matched on age, sex, DM, and previous myocardial infarction. Ambulatory electrocardiograms were recorded before and after a 2-year training period. TWA was assessed using time domain–modified moving average method by an investigator blinded to patientsʹ clinical status. Average TWA values decreased in the rehabilitation group but not in control patients (rehabilitation [mean ± SEM]: 52.8 ± 1.7 μV vs 48.7 ± 1.5 μV, p <0.001; control: 53.7 ± 1.7 μV vs 54.3 ± 1.6 μV, p = 0.746). Changes in TWA differed between the groups (rehabilitation: −4.1 ± 1.2 μV vs controls: +0.6 ± 1.1 μV, p = 0.005). In CAD + DM patients, 50% (n = 9) of the 18 positive TWA cases were converted with exercise versus 10% (n = 2 of 20) of controls (p = 0.020). In CAD patients, 30% (n = 8 of 27) of positive TWA cases were converted with exercise versus 4% (n = 1 of 28) of controls (p = 0.012). In conclusion, this is the first report of the effectiveness of exercise rehabilitation to reduce TWA, a marker of sudden cardiac death risk, in patients with stable CAD.