Metabolic, vascular and cardiorespiratory modifications in patients undergoing to a 3-month in-hospital controlled physical activity

background Primary prevention with non-pharmacologic approaches represents an intriguing option for cardiovascular(CV) diseases tre-atment. In 2008 we started a project to evaluate if a 3-months in-ho-spital course of physical activity can improve metabolic and vascular parameters among otherwise healthy obese subjects.Methods We enrolled 70 obese patients (age 56.8±8.91 years,M:F 2:1,7,BMI 34.2±5.69 kg/m2) without previous vascular events. CV fa-miliarity was present in 45%, hypertension in 64.3%, smoke in 16.7%.Each patient underwent to a complete CV and metabolic evaluation be-fore physical activity. After a 3-months training subjects were reassessed.T-test for repeated measures was used to analyze differences.results At baseline sample showed insulin resistance, hypertriglyceri-demia, endothelial dysfunction, increased IMT, and increase in leftventricle(LV) mass; double product at treadmill resulted within lower limits. Framingham risk was 14.8%, with a 13.8% comparative increase.At 3 months we observed a significant reduction of weight (96.5±18.9-87.8±13.2kg),BMI(34.2±5.69-28.9±9.03kg/m2),IMT(0.95±0.14-0.76±0.08mm),left ventricle(LV) mass(108.2±34.0-76.36±28.73g/m2),HOMA index(7.21±6.44-2.76±2.14); FMD(7.43±10.4-23.7±13.6%) and double product increased (254.6±60.7-286.5±49.8).conclusion In-hospital controlled physical activity reduced body weight and BMI, the extent of preclinical atherosclerosis and dysmetabolic markers, suggesting that lifestyle changes are as important as drugs inprimary prevention.