The Effects of 8 Weeks Yoga and Cardiac Rehabilitation Training on Interlukin-6 and High Sensitivity C-Reaction Proteins After Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Coronary artery bypass surgery is a common method for coronary artery disease (CAD) treatment, which in turn activates pro-inflammatory biomarkers such as Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and high sensitivity C-reaction protein (hs-CRP).

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of 8 weeks Yoga and cardiac rehabilitation training on IL-6 and hs-CRP after coronary artery bypass surgery.

The subjects of this randomized control trial study consist of 20 male patients (40 - 75 years old) who experienced coronary artery bypass surgery. They were randomly assigned in cardiac rehabilitation training group (CRT, n = 10) and combined training group (Yoga-cardiac rehabilitation) (YCRT, n = 10). Plasma levels of IL-6 and hs-CRP were assessed at baseline and end of the study. The CRT group performed cardiac rehabilitation program with 60% - 85% of maximum heart rate for 1 hour three days a week. The YCRT group performed one session in between cardiac rehabilitation and Yoga training for 1 hour three days in a week. All subjects completed training sessions at the cardiac rehabilitation center of Shahid Rajaie Cardiovascular, Medical and Research Center in Tehran for 8 weeks. SPSS software was used for analysis. Covariance analysis was used to compare groups (P ≤ 0.05).

Despite a small decline in IL-6 (10.90 to 8.77 in CRT group, 9.87 to 9.40 in YCRT group (and hs-CRP (2.58 to 2.00 in CRT group, 3.67 to 3.13 in YCRT group), there weren’t any significant differences in IL-6 (P = 0.160) and hs-CRP (P = 0.234) levels between two groups.

It could be proposed to add Yoga training to cardiac rehabilitation program after coronary artery bypass surgery.