Does high-intensity interval training (HIIT) improve cardiorespiratory fitness compared to moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) in participants of cardiac rehabilitation?
HIIT is superior to MICT for improving cardiorespiratory fitness in cardiac rehabilitation, particularly in 7-12 week programs for CAD patients, with a similar safety profile.
HIIT is superior to MICT in improving cardiorespiratory fitness in participants of cardiac rehabilitation (CR). Improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness are significant for CR programs of >6-week duration. Programs of 7-12 weeks' duration resulted in the largest improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness for patients with coronary artery disease. HIIT appears to be as safe as MICT for CR participants.
Hannan et al. (2018) studied this question.