Browsing by Author "Silbernatel, Jonathan Eric"

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    Effects of Exercise Training on Heart Failure Measured Using Seismocardiography
    (Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina, 2019-12) Silbernatel, Jonathan Eric; Neary, J. Patrick; Candow, Darren; Dorsch, Kim; Buttigieg, Josef
    Heart failure has become a growing health concern across most of the Western world and will soon become a global health focus. The nature of the disease presents with a very high mortality rate. In Canada alone, the average mortality rate is approximately 50% within the first five years of diagnosis [1]. Exercise has now become a common treatment modality for many chronic disease conditions including heart failure. As heart failure advances, the myocardium goes through a remodeling phase that alters the contractility of the heart and its pumping efficiency. Exercise is known to lead to a positive remodeling of the myocardium in healthy populations, but the degree to which exercise reverses pathological remodeling in individuals with heart failure remains to be determined. The purpose of this study was to analyze the Systolic Timing Intervals (STI) of the myocardium, specifically left ventricular ejection time (LVET) and the pre-ejection period (PEP) using seismocardiography (SCG), as well as to investigate the functional health changes measured using the six-minute walk test (6MWT). Participants exercised three times per week for a period of 12 weeks involving a combination of aerobic and resistance type activities. The SCG screening and 6MWT were performed at the commencement, and at the 12 week point of their exercise program. Eleven individuals participated in this study with varying etiologies for heart failure (ischemic n=6 and nonischemic n=5). Among the individuals with ischemic heart failure, significant improvement were observed in 6MWT distance, (477.0±127.0m to 539.3±113.9m t(5)=- 3.01, p=0.030), but no significant improvements were noted in indices of myocardial function. However, in the non-ischemic group, significant changes were noted in indices iii of myocardial function including LVET (449.6±36.0ms to 438.4±30.5ms t(149)=4.28, p=<0.001), and PEP (128.0±23.5ms to 119.9±18.5ms t(149)=6.87, p=<0.001), but no statistically significant changes were observed in 6MWT distance (p=0.056). This study showed that SCG can be used to record the mechanical function of the heart in individuals with heart failure, that exercise training can produce positive mechanical changes to the heart for individuals with non-ischemic heart failure, and exercise capacity can increase in for individuals with ischemic based heart failure.