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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Subjects with cardiovascular diseases are referred to cardiac rehabilitation, with a
possibility of using virtual reality environments. The study aimed to analyze the effect of a home-based
specific exercise program, maintenance phase, with a six months period, performed in a virtual reality
(Kinect) or conventional (booklet) environment, on the body composition, eating patterns and lipid
profile of subjects with coronary artery disease.
A randomized controlled trial was conducted with subjects from a hospital in Porto, Portugal.
Subjects were randomly assigned to either intervention group 1 (n = 11), whose program encompassed
the use of Kinect; or intervention group 2, a booklet (n = 11) or a control group, only receiving education
concerning cardiovascular risk factors (n = 11) during 6 months. Beyond the baseline, at 3 and 6 months
the body composition was assessed with a bioimpedance scale and a tape-measure, eating patterns with
the semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire and three months later, the lipid profile with
laboratory tests. Descriptive and inferential statistical measures were used with a significance level of
0.05.
The intervention group 1 revealed significant improvements in the waist-to-hip ratio after 6
months (p = 0.033) and, between the baseline and third month, when compared with the control group
(p = 0.041). The intervention group 1 also decreased their ingestion of total fat (p = 0.032) after six months
and increased the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p = 0.017) 3 months after the program’s
The virtual reality format had a positive influence on body composition, specifically on the
waist-to-hip ratio, in the
first three months.
Description
Keywords
Cardiac rehabilitation Virtual reality Body composition Eating patterns Lipid profile