BACKGROUND: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, progressive and fatal interstitial lung disease associated with cardiovascular impairments which compromise exercise tolerance and worsen prognosis. AIM: To examine the effect of participating in supervised exercise training (ET) program on cardiovascular function in patients with IPF. DESIGN: A randomized controlled study. SETTING: Outpatient hospital. POPULATION: Thirty-two IPF patients (68 +/- 8 years). METHODS: An ET group (n = 15) participated in a 12-week twice a week 60-minute supervised exercise program while a control group (n = 17) received usual care. At baseline and after the 12-week intervention all patients underwent resting echocardiography, cardiopulmonary exercise testing and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) assessments. RESULTS: The ET group significantly improved peak values of exercise cardiovascular indexes while the control group showed a trend of deterioration in the outcomes. The mean difference between the groups (95% CI) for circulatory power was 638 mLO2/kg/min/mmHg (95% CI 197 to 1,080) (p = 0.006), cardiac power output 0.3 W (95% CI 0.1 to 0.6) (p = 0.041), and stroke work 312 mL/beat/mmHg (95% CI 52 to 573) (p = 0.02). No significant differences between groups were detected in most echocardiography measures and NT-proBNP. Changes in exercise cardiovascular indexes showed significant correlation with improvements in functional capacity, dyspnea and quality of life among ET group. CONCLUSIONS: Participation in supervised ET program can improve exercise cardiovascular function in patients with IPF, however resting cardiac evaluations seem to be less sensitive to detect such changes.

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