Patient characteristics
| Baseline characteristics | Control group (N=82) | Exercise group (N=16) | P-value |
| Male sex, n (%) | 53 (64.6) | 11 (68.8) | 0.75 |
| Age (years) | 64.8±10.5 | 64.6±10.6 | 0.96 |
| Height (cm) | 174.3±10.5 | 176.4±8.8 | 0.45 |
| Weight (kg) | 82.4±15.3 | 82.8±14.2 | 0.92 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 27.0±3.8 | 26.6±4.3 | 0.71 |
| Smoking, n (%) | 0.58 | ||
| Yes | 25 (30.5) | 3 (18.8) | |
| Packyears | 30.0 [13.1–35.6) | 37.5 (12.5--) | |
| No, stopped | 31 (37.8) | 6 (37.5) | |
| Packyears | 11.2 [7.5–35.0) | 10.2 [1.2–40.5) | |
| No, never | 26 (31.7) | 7 (43.8) | |
| Alcohol, n (%) | 47 (57.3) | 10 (62.5) | 0.7 |
| Amount (units/week) | 3.0 [1.0–6.0) | 4.0 [1.8–6.3) | 0.7 |
| Medical history | Control group (N=82) | Exercise group (N=16) | P-value |
| Hypertension, n (%) | 33 (40.2) | 7 (43.8) | 0.75 |
| Dyslipidaemia, n (%) | 21 (25.9) | 3 (18.8) | 0.75 |
| Diabetes mellitus, n (%) | N/A | ||
| Type I | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | |
| Type II | 10 (12.2) | 0 (0) | |
| Rheumatoid arthritis, n (%) | 4 (4.9) | 1 (6.3) | 1 |
| Prior MI, n (%) | 13 (15.9) | 3 (18.8) | 0.72 |
| Prior resuscitation, n (%) | 1 (1.2) | 0 (0) | 1 |
| Heart valve disease, n (%) | 3 (3.7) | 1 (6.3) | 0.52 |
| LVEF*, n (%) | N/A | ||
| Normal—good (LVEF>50%) | 2/2 (100) | 0/0 (0) | |
| Mildly reduced (LVEF 40–50%) | 0/2 (0) | 0/0 (0) | |
| Moderately reduced (LVEF 30–40%) | 0/2 (0) | 0/0 (0) | |
| Severely reduced (LVEF<30%) | 0/2 (0) | 0/0 (0) | |
| Kidney failure,† n (%) | 4 (4.9) | 0 (0) | 1 |
| G3a | 2 (50) | ||
| G3b | 2 (50) | ||
| Cancer, n (%) | 0.85 | ||
| Yes, in the past 5 years | 6 (7.3) | 2 (12.5) | |
| Yes, not in the past 5 years | 7 (8.5) | 1 (6.3) |
*Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) provides an estimation of the left ventricular function and is measured with a transthoracic ultrasound. Not all patients receive an ultrasound, therefore the number is shown per the number of measured patients.
†Kidney failure stages: G1, G2: normal or mildly decreased; G3a: mildly to moderately decreased; G3b: moderately tot severely decreased; G4: severely decreased; G5: kidney failure.
BMI, Body Mass Index.