Cardiopulmonary Function and Aerobic Exercise in Parkinson's: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Abstract

Background Cardiorespiratory impairments are considered the main cause of mortality in the late stages of Parkinson's. Aerobic exercise has been shown to improve pulmonary function in asthmatic patients and in healthy people. However, effects of aerobic exercise on cardiopulmonary function in people with Parkinson's have not been investigated. Therefore, this study aimed to review the effects of aerobic exercise on cardiopulmonary function in people with Parkinson's. Methods A systematic search was conducted using MEDLINE, AMED, CINHAL Plus, and relevant associated keywords, from January 1970 to January 2020. Inclusion criteria for the studies were: aerobic exercise as part of the intervention, pulmonary function test, and/or cardiopulmonary exercise test as outcome measures. Results In total, 329 citations were identified from the search, of which nine were included in this review. In general, aerobic exercise was found to have positive effects on cardiac function for people with Parkinson's, but there is a lack of studies on the effects of aerobic exercise on pulmonary function. Conclusion People with early stages of Parkinson's may experience positive effects of aerobic exercise on cardiac fitness. Further research is needed in this area, particularly into the effects of aerobic exercise on pulmonary function in early stages of the disease.

Effects of Aerobic Training on Cardiopulmonary Function Based on Multiple Linear Regression Analysis

“…Aerobic exercise has a certain impact on the human heart and lung function; often participating in physical exercise can effectively increase the physiological function of various organ systems and adaptability; enhance the human body constitution and improve cardiovascular function and physical fitness, and these effects come from the human cardiopulmonary function of adaptive changes of movement. Aburub et al [ 5 ] proposed a detection method based on the relationship model, which uses the relationship change curve of cardiopulmonary function indexes of athletes in aerobic training to detect the cardiopulmonary function of athletes, but the adaptability of this method is poor. Zhang and Zhu [ 6 ] use the particle swarm method to approximate cardiopulmonary function of athletes, with high detection accuracy, but this work lacks comparison of cardiopulmonary function indexes, which is difficult to guide practical training.…”

Effect of Exercise and Rehabilitation Therapy on Risk of Hospitalization in Parkinson's Disease

“…For exercise duration, light exercise was excluded to improve sensitivity and reduce variability because specifically higher intensity exercise has shown to be beneficial in PD. [5][6][7][8][9]…”

“…We multiplied the number of hours of light, moderate, and vigorous exercise by the number of metabolic equivalents (METs) associated with that exercise intensity: three, five, and nine, respectively. For exercise duration, light exercise was excluded to improve sensitivity and reduce variability because specifically higher intensity exercise has shown to be beneficial in PD 5–9 …”

Fatigability and Cardiorespiratory Impairments in Parkinson’s Disease: Potential Non-Motor Barriers to Activity Performance

“…Aerobic exercise training has garnered increased attention in PD as a complimentary treatment to pharmacologic options due to its potential positive impact on motor symptoms, cognition, brain health, and disease progression [ 20 , 141 , 142 ]. Additionally, as noted by a recent systematic review, aerobic training appears to be a viable strategy for improving cardiorespiratory fitness as measured by peak VO 2 , performance fatigability as measured by walking distance, peak work rate, or exercise test duration, and perceived fatigability as measured by ratings of perceived exertion during walking tests [ 143 ]. However, results are not uniform and large variation between studies in terms of frequency and intensity of training, program duration, and testing mode (i.e., treadmill vs. bicycle) makes it difficult to determine which elements of the overall program design are most essential for improving cardiorespiratory fitness and fatigability.…”