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High-intensity exercise is safe and effective in long-term heart transplant recipients, according to a new study. 

The study found that high-intensity interval exercise - training for a few minutes at close to the maximum heart rate - is safe as well as more efficient than moderate exercise in different groups of patients with heart diseases. 

Researchers compared the effects of 12 weeks of high-intensity interval training versus continued moderate training in 16 stable heart transplant recipients. They found that high-intensity interval training is safe in heart transplant patients, and the effect on exercise capacity and blood pressure control is superior to moderate intensity training, the press release added. 

"Today, people who have been given a new heart experience increased physical function, quality of life, and overall life span; however, most patients continue to have limitations in their physical function and reduced quality of life compared to the general population due to side-effects from anti-rejection medications and because heart rate regulation is impaired after heart transplantation," said Christian Dall, PhD fellow, MSc, of the Bispebjerg Hospital at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, in the press release. "The impaired heart rate response has been considered a hindrance for more demanding high-intensity training, but this new study documents that stable heart transplant recipients benefit from this type of training more than from the moderate training that has been recommended so far. Importantly, the training is also safe and well received by patients."

The study has been published in American Journal of Transplantation.