In coronary artery disease patients, cardiovascular rehabilitation (CR) reduces cardiac mortality by 30% when compared to usual drug therapy without CR. Cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2peak) is the most powerful independent prognostic marker of longevity. An improvement in VO2peak is also associated with better cognitive performance in the elderly.~The effectiveness of CR varies between patients. About 25% of coronary disease patients do not improve their VO2peak after taking part of a CR program. The risk of acute event for those non-responder patients, (i.e. not increasing their VO2peak), is high with a mortality rate three times higher compared to responder individuals.~It seems that the autonomic nervous system (ANS) is playing an important role in exercise training-induced physiological responses. Based on this, it has been proposed in healthy subjects to prescribe each exercise session according to ANS parameters (via heart rate variability, HRV). It has been suggested that high-intensity exercise when HRV parameters are stable, results in better adaptations to training. Conversely, recovery sessions when HRV is impaired seem necessary.~44 participants with stable coronary artery diseases, and taking part in a CR program will be included in this study. All participants will have signed a written consent form before taking part in the study. Patients will be randomly assigned to one of the 2 following study arms: 1/ standard exercise training ; 2/ Heart Rate Variability-guided exercise training.
The objective of this project is to assess the effectiveness of a new modality of prescribing the intensity of physical exercise in cardiovascular rehabilitation programs according to physiological criteria (heart rate variability measured every morning) in comparison to a standard non-individualized program.