Researchers from the University of Otago in New Zealand say that intense exercise before surgery reduces the risk of postoperative complications as well as hospital stays by as much as 56%, says Study Finds.
“We have found that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is safe and effective for surgical patients,” says lead investigator Kari Clifford, of the Department of Surgical Sciences at the University of Otago. “A HIIT program can meaningfully improve a patient’s fitness within four to six weeks, and this reduces postoperative complications and length of stay.”
The work analyzed 12 studies including 832 patients who engaged in HIIT before their surgeries. The training involved repeated aerobic interval exercises at about 80% of their maximum heart rate before going into active recovery.
The most significant result was the change in cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) — a measure of how well the body takes in oxygen and delivers it to the muscles and organs during prolonged periods of exercise. The significant improvement in CRF lowers the risk of adverse postoperative events, says Clifford, in a university press release.
Generally, postoperative complications occur in about 30% of patients, or up to 50% for frail patients. In the study, that included all types of major surgeries lasting more than two hours, the researchers found that people who undertook high-intensity interval training before surgery, showed a consistent reduction in post-surgery complications. These included cardiac complications, pneumonia, and postoperative bowel issues, says Clifford. The average age of participants in the intervention group was 66 and 67 in the control group.
“Our study’s pooled results showed that HIIT reduces the risk of having a complication by 56%, which is substantial, and on average they stayed for three fewer days in the hospital,” she added. “All of these findings suggest that a period of pre-surgery high-intensity interval training — even as brief as four weeks — may substantially improve patient outcomes and bring with it robust benefits across patient populations.”
The next step, says Clifford, is to find ways to economically implement these programs to support people training in their homes or in the community. She says that funding the programs may save money in the long run by reducing the cost of hospital stays and surgical complications.
“In the meantime, I would say to everyone, it is never too late to improve fitness, and this can really make a difference to health outcomes in the surgical context,” Clifford concluded.