Effect of high-intensity interval training in improving peak VO2 on cardiac rehabilitation patients phase II

Background: Cardiac rehabilitation is a medical program designed to enhance cardiovascular health, quality of life, functional independence, and survival prospects. The objective of this study was to identify the impact of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on the improvement of peak VO2 in patients with cardiovascular disease. Methods: This study was conducted using a systematic literature review method through the analysis of articles from Q1-indexed journals, obtained from the PubMed, PEDro, and Elsevier databases and using the keywords of “Cardiac Rehabilitation”, “Peak VO2”, and “High-Intensity Interval Training”, which selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The selected articles included studies from the period 2020–2024, involving HIIT in cardiac rehabilitation patients. Results: The results from several kinds of literature indicate that HIIT in cardiac rehabilitation patients significantly increases peak VO2. The improvement of peak VO2 in this study generally showed HIIT was far more superior than any other protocols, particularly moderate-intensity steady-state (MISS) or moderate-intensity continuous training (MCT). Conclusion: Based on several collected literature and the discussion outlined above, it can be concluded that HIIT has a potential impact on increasing peak VO2 within a range of 8 weeks to 12 months of follow-up compared to other protocols such as MCT, MISS, or control/guideline protocols in improving peak VO₂ in cardiac rehabilitation patients.