The mechanisms involved in the coupling between cardiac and locomotor rhythms in patients with heart disease remain unclear. It was speculated that reduced function of the cardiovascular and/or locomotor systems would increase the coupling of these systems to increase energy efficiency in response to increased energy demand during exercise. We investigated the development of cardiolocomotor coupling (CLC) in patients with coronary artery disease. Eight outpatients with coronary artery disease (CAD group) and eight healthy individuals (control group) underwent cardiopulmonary exercise testing involving a cycle ergometer ramp protocol and treadmill walk test to record CLC strength. The coefficient of determination (R² value) of the interval between R waves on the electrocardiograph and step interval reflects CLC strength intensity. The Student’s t-test was used to compare cardiopulmonary exercise testing data and R² values between the study groups. The R² value was significantly higher in the CAD group than the control group. Peak oxygen uptake and oxygen uptake at the anaerobic threshold were significantly lower in the CAD group than the control group. Our findings showed that CLC intensity was higher in patients with CAD, suggesting that CLC is more likely to occur in individuals with reduced exercise tolerance due to cardiorespiratory deterioration.

Key highlights

• Eight outpatients with coronary artery disease and eight healthy individuals underwent cardiopulmonary exercise and treadmill walk tests to determine cardiolocomotor coupling strength and physiological characteristics.

• This study reports a stronger cardiolocomotor coupling during exercise in patients with coronary artery disease compared with healthy individuals, suggesting that cardiolocomotor coupling is more likely to occur in people with reduced exercise tolerance attributed to impaired cardiorespiratory function.

• Our results support the theory that patients with cardiorespiratory impairment due to coronary artery disease have greater dynamic interaction between the locomotor and cardiovascular systems during exercise, which is concurrent with the hypothesis that cardiolocomotor coupling is a compensatory phenomenon for exercise maintenance.

心脏病患者心脏节律和运动节律之间的耦合机制仍不清楚。据推测，心血管和/或运动系统功能的降低会增加这些系统的耦合，从而提高能量效率，以响应运动期间增加的能量需求。我们研究了冠状动脉疾病患者心运动耦合（CLC）的发展情况。八名患有冠状动脉疾病的门诊患者（CAD 组）和八名健康个体（对照组）接受了心肺运动测试，包括自行车测力计斜坡方案和跑步机步行测试，以记录 CLC 强度。决定系数 (R ²心电图上R波之间的间隔和步进间隔的值）反映了CLC强度的强度。Student's t检验用于比较研究组之间的心肺运动测试数据和 R ^2值。CAD组的R ^{2值显着高于对照组。}CAD组的峰值摄氧量和无氧阈值摄氧量显着低于对照组。我们的研究结果表明，CAD 患者的 CLC 强度较高，这表明 CLC 更有可能发生在因心肺功能恶化而导致运动耐量降低的个体中。

主要亮点

• 八名患有冠状动脉疾病的门诊患者和八名健康个体接受了心肺运动和跑步机步行测试，以确定心运动耦合强度和生理特征。

• 这项研究报告称，与健康个体相比，冠状动脉疾病患者在运动过程中心运动耦合更强，这表明心肺功能受损而导致运动耐量降低的人更有可能发生心运动耦合。

• 我们的研究结果支持这样的理论，即冠状动脉疾病导致的心肺功能障碍患者在运动过程中运动系统和心血管系统之间具有更大的动态相互作用，这与心运动耦合是运动维持的代偿现象的假设是一致的。