Intermittent normobaric hypoxia therapy for the cardiovascular disease treatment: current approaches and future prospects

Objective. To perform systematization and analysis of current scientific data on the use of intermittent normobaric hypoxic therapy in the treatment of patients with cardiovascular diseases (arterial hypertension and ischemic heart disease). Materials and methods. A systematic search for literature in Scopus, Web of Science, eLibrary.ru, PubMed, Google Scholar, CyberLeninka electronic databases for the period from January 2010 to May 2025 was carried out. The following keywords in Russian and English were used: «intermittent normobaric hypoxia», «normobaric hypoxic training», «cardiovascular diseases», «standardization», «review». Inclusion criteria: systematic reviews, meta-analyses, randomized controlled trials, observational studies and experimental works. Exclusion criteria: conference abstracts without full publications, description of single clinical cases with limited generalizability, studies not focused directly on the use of intermittent normobaric hypoxic therapy (INHT) in cardiovascular diseases. Data synthesis was carried out using a narrative approach and thematic analysis. In addition, we studied the reference lists of reviews and original articles and used our own archive. Results. Data on clinical efficacy of INHT are summarized. In arterial hypertension, a decrease in blood pressure confirmed by meta-analyses was noted, in ischemic heart disease — improvement of tolerance to physical exertion, antiangical and antiischemic effects. Aspects of standardization of INHT protocols, safety profile, contraindications are considered. Conclusion. Intermittent normobaric hypoxic therapy is a promising and actively developing non-pharmacological method in cardiology. The accumulated data indicate its clinical efficacy in arterial hypertension and ischemic heart disease, good safety profile if protocols are followed and contraindications are considered. Further research is needed to finalize the standardization of protocols, study long-term effects and influence on «hard» endpoints of intermittent normobaric hypoxic therapy in comprehensive treatment programs for patients with cardiovascular diseases.