Women and men with coronary heart disease respond similarly to different aerobic exercise training modalities: a pooled analysis of prospective randomized trials.

We aimed to compare cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) parameters, cardiac adaptations and proportion of responders after different aerobic training programs amongst women and men with coronary heart disease (CHD). Patients with CHD were evaluated with a CPET and echocardiography before and after 3 month of aerobic exercise training. V̇O2 peak exercise training response was assessed according to the median V̇O2 peak change post vs. pre-training in the whole cohort (stratification non-/low-responders (NLRes) vs. high-responders) and normalized for lean body mass (LBM). Eighty three CHD patients were included (19 women, 64 men), (27 patients with interval, 19 with continuous and 37 with a combination). V̇O2 peak, peak work load normalized for LBM, pulmonary (i.e. ventilation and OUES) and O2 pulse were significantly lower in women vs. men.These parameters improved similarly with training in both sexes (p<0.05). There were no differences in the proportion of NLRes among women and men with CHD (7/19 or 37% vs. 35/64 or 55%, p=0.1719). Left ventricular ejection fraction and mean peak early diastolic mitral annulus velocity improved similarly with training in both sexes (p<0.05). Women and men with CHD have a similar exercise training response regarding key CPET, echocardiographic parameters. The proportion of responders is similar. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03414996, NCT02048696, NCT03443193 Novelty: Cardiopulmonary adaptations to exercise training is similar among CHD men and women Proportion of V̇O2 peak non-/low-/high-responders is similar in CHD men and women LV systolic (LVEF) and diastolic (e') function improved similarly after exercise training in CHD men and women.