A cardiac rehabilitation exercise program potentially inhibits progressive inflammation in patients with severe Chagas cardiomyopathy A pilot single arm clinical trial

Cardiac rehabilitation exerts anti‑inflammatory effect on several cardiovascular diseases; however, these effects were not described for Chagas cardiomyopathy, which is associated with pro‑inflammatory imbalance.

Ten patients with severe Chagas cardiomyopathy performed 8 months of exercise training in a cardiac rehabilitation program. Interleukin‑1 beta (IL‑1β), IL‑8, IL‑10, interferon gamma (IF‑γ), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF‑α), and monocyte chemoattractant protein‑1 (MCP‑1) serum levels were measured using enzyme‑linked immunosorbent assay at baseline, 4, and 8 months. The influence of exercise on cytokine levels was evaluated using the one‑way analysis of variance for repeated measurements, with Bonferroni posttest for multiple comparisons.

Levels of pro‑inflammatory (TNF‑α, IL‑1β, IL‑8, IF‑γ, and (MCP‑1) and anti‑inflammatory (IL‑10) cytokines did not vary significantly during the observation period.

Exercise may benefit patients with severe Chagas cardiomyopathy by curbing the production of pro‑inflammatory cytokines in this disease characterized by a continuous state of inflammation.