An active lifestyle into old age has been shown to reduce the risk for chronic disease, and conserve functional capacity.
Caediac rehabilitation including exercise training is of proven value in ischemic heart disease.
Despite this, elderly patients with coronary heart disease are frequently not referred or encouraged to pursue cardiac rehabilitation and training programmes, a shortcoming that possibly may limit their performance of activities in everyday life. All patients were instructed about physical activity after a coronary event and were encouraged to take a daily walk according to energy and to re-start their prior physical activity as soon as they felt fit for this. The patients were stratified according to diagnosis, acute myocardial infarction or unstable angina pectoris, and randomised into an intervention group or a control group. Patients in the intervention group participated in an aerobic group training programme three times a week during three months, with a voluntary step down period once a week for another three months. All patients were assessed as regards exercise capacity, health-related quality of life and wellbeing, heart rate variability, and muscular endurance and recovery of the knee extensor muscle.