Research

Mixed

Prolonged (12 months) and intense endurance exercise training reduces myocardial ischemia at a given workload in patients with coronary artery disease by increasing the double-product threshold for ST-segment depression.

For CAD patients, standard cardiac rehab often involves mild, intermittent exercise. To see improvements in how much stress your heart can handle before showing signs of ischemia (ST depression), you need a program that is both long (at least 12 months) and progressively intense (reaching 70-90% of your max capacity). This specific type of training raises the threshold for ischemia, meaning your heart can work harder before showing distress signals.

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These findings suggest that training, if sufficiently intense and prolonged, can result in a reduction in myocardial ischemia at the same or a higher double product.
Ali A. Ehsani et al. · Circulation · 1981

Why this rating

Randomized controlled trial design with a trained vs. untrained control group, though small sample size (n=10).

Source

Effects of 12 months of intense exercise training on ischemic ST-segment depression in patients with coronary artery disease.

Ali A. Ehsani et al. · Circulation · 1981

DOI 10.1161/01.cir.64.6.1116

cohort · n=10Cited 200×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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