Exercise training to reduce sympathetic nerve activity in heart failure patients. A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of exercise training on sympathetic nerve activity in heart failure patients. METHODS: A systematic review was performed. An electronic search of MEDLINE, ProQuest, SciELO, SPORTDiscus, Rehabilitation and Sport Medicine Source, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Tripdatabase, Science Direct and PEDrO was performed from their inception to February 2017. Clinical trials and quasi-experimental studies were considered for primary article selection. The studies should include patients diagnosed with chronic heart failure that performed exercise training for at least 4 weeks. Sympathetic nerve activity should be measured by microneurography before and after the intervention. The Cochrane Collaboration's Risk of Bias Tool was used to evaluate risk of bias, and the quality of evidence was rated following the GRADE approach. Standardized mean differences (SMD) were calculated for control and experimental groups. Meta-analysis was performed using the random effects model. RESULTS: Five trials were included. Overall, the trials had moderate risk of bias. The experimental group indicated a significant decrease in the number of bursts per minute (SMD −2.48; 95% CI −3.55 to −1.41) when compared to the control group. Meanwhile, a significant decrease was also observed in the prevalence of bursts per 100 beats in the experimental group when compared to the control group (SMD −2.66; 95% CI −3.64 to −1.69). CONCLUSION: Exercise training could be effective in reducing sympathetic nerve activity in patients with heart failure. The quality of evidence across the studies was moderate. Future studies are necessary to confirm these results.