The effects of five days of intensive preoperative inspiratory muscle training on postoperative complications and outcome in patients having cardiac surgery: a randomized controlled trial:

Objective:To determine the prophylactic efficacy of short-term intensive preoperative inspiratory muscle training on the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications in patients scheduled for cardiac surgery.Design:Single-blind, randomized controlled pilot study.Setting:TEDA International Cardiovascular Hospital, China.Subjects:In total, 197 subjects aged ⩾50 years scheduled for cardiac surgery were selected.Intervention:The intervention group (n = 98) received five days of preoperative inspiratory muscle training on top of the usual care received by the patients in the control group (n = 99).Main measures:The primary outcome variable was the occurrence of postoperative pulmonary complications. The secondary outcome variables were inspiratory muscle strength, lung function and length of hospitalization.Results:After cardiac surgery, a total of 10 (10.2%) of the 98 patients in the intervention group and 27 (27.3%) of 99 patients in the control group had postoperative pulmonary complications (risk rat...