Aerobic exercise training without weight loss reduces dyspnea on exertion in obese women

• Dyspnea on exertion is a common symptom in otherwise healthy obese adults.
• Prior studies showed that weight loss could improve dyspnea on exertion.
• 12 weeks aerobic exercise training without weight loss reduced dyspnea on exertion.
• Improved cardiorespiratory fitness was not associated with reduced dyspnea.

Dyspnea on exertion (DOE) is a common symptom in obesity. We investigated whether aerobic exercise training without weight loss could reduce DOE. Twenty-two otherwise healthy obese women participated in a 12-week supervised aerobic exercise training program, exercising 30 min/day at 70–80% heart rate reserve, 4 days/week. Subjects were grouped based on their Ratings of Perceived Breathlessness (RPB) during constant load 60 W cycling: +DOE (n = 12, RPB ≥ 4, 37 ± 7 years, 34 ± 4 kg/m2) and –DOE (n = 10, RPB ≤ 2, 32 ± 6 years, 33 ± 3 kg/m2). No significant differences between the groups in body composition, pulmonary function, or cardiorespiratory fitness were observed pre-training. Post-training,peak was improved significantly in both groups (+DOE: 12 ± 7, –DOE: 14 ± 8%). RPB was significantly decreased in the +DOE (4.7 ± 1.0–2.5 ± 1.0) and remained low in the –DOE group (1.2 ± 0.6–1.3 ± 1.0) (interaction p < 0.001). The reduction in RPB was not significantly correlated with the improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness. Aerobic exercise training improved cardiorespiratory fitness and DOE and thus appears to be an effective treatment for DOE in obese women.