Table 2 Short-term CR effect on functional capacity, frailty-scores, exercise capacity and muscular strength. Multivariate analysis of variance with repeated measurements and Chi-square tests were used to detect changes between intervention and control groups. T0 = assessment at admittance to CR, T1 = assessment at CR-completion

Functional capacity

T0 M ± SD

T1 M ± SD

D T1-T0 M ± SD

T0 M ± SD

T1 M ± SD

D T1-T0 M ± SD

Time

Group

Interaction

6MWD (m)

247 ± 94.1

348 ± 100.1

108 ± 73.3

232 ± 102.8

333 ± 120.7

104 ± 90.4

< 0.01

0.960

0.428

SPPB (score)

8.31 ± 2.21

9.51 ± 2.24

1.18 ± 1.51

7.95 ± 2.01

9.08 ± 2.35

1.14 ± 1.78

< 0.01

0.847

0.380

5MWT (m/s)

0.847 ± 0.31

0.965 ± 0.32

0.117 ± 0.21

0.765 ± 0.24

0.879 ± 0.29

0.114 ± 0.19

< 0.01

0.946

0.204

Work load (watt)

70.5 ± 24.9

76.4 ± 26.7

7.25 ± 4.5

67.8 ± 16.6

81.8 ± 24.5

14 ± 14.6

< 0.01

0.121

0.868

Work load (watt/kg)

0.94 ± 0.30

1.02 ± 0.32

0.08 ± 0.06

0.85 ± 0.17

1.04 ± 0.27

0.18 ± 0.09

< 0.01

0.114

0.690

PeakVO_2, (ml/kg/min)

12.8 ± 5.6

13.3 ± 3.5

1.47 ± 5.4

11.6 ± 2.9

13.3 ± 3.5

0.37 ± 3.4

0.097

0.929

0.451

1RM for leg extension (kg)

46.6 ± 17.5

59.5 ± 21.5

10.1 ± 11.9

50.5 ± 20.9

53.5 ± 21.1

8.7 ± 9.7

< 0.01

0.606

0.160

CR duration, days, mean M ± SD

Exercise training sessions, mean M ± SD

Frailty level

Frailty level according to SPPB score

T0 (n, (%))

T0 (n, (%))

Group

Frail

20 (40.8%)

14 (37.8%)

0.13

Pre-frail

11 (22.4%)

13 (35.1%)

Robust

18 (36.7%)

10 (27%)

Frailty level according to 5MWT

T1 (n, (%))

T1 (n, (%))

Group

Frail

19 (40.4%)

15 (41.7%)

0.12

Pre-frail

17 (36.2%)

16 (44.4%)

Robust

11 (23.4%)

5 (13.9%)