Soriano-Maldonado, AlbertoMorillas-de-Laguno, PabloSabio, José MarioGavilán-Carrera, BlancaRosales-Castillo, AntonioMontalbán-Méndez, CristinaSáez-Urán, Luis ManuelCallejas-Rubio, José LuisVargas-Hitos, José Antonio2023-01-252023-01-252018-11-242077-0383http://hdl.handle.net/10668/13238This study assessed the effect of 12-week aerobic exercise on arterial stiffness (primary outcome), inflammation, oxidative stress, and cardiorespiratory fitness (secondary outcomes) in women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In a non-randomized clinical trial, 58 women with SLE were assigned to either aerobic exercise (n = 26) or usual care (n = 32). The intervention comprised 12 weeks of aerobic exercise (2 sessions × 75 min/week) between 40⁻75% of the individual's heart rate reserve. At baseline and at week 12, arterial stiffness was assessed through pulse wave velocity (PWV), inflammatory (i.e., high-sensitivity C-reactive protein [hsCRP], tumor necrosis factor alpha [TFN-α], and inteleukin 6 [IL-6]) and oxidative stress (i.e., myeloperoxidase [MPO]) markers were obtained from blood samples, and cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed (Bruce test). There were no between-group differences in the changes in arterial stiffness (median PWV difference -0.034, 95% CI -0.42 to 0.36 m/s; p = 0.860) or hsCRP, TNF-α, IL-6, and MPO (all p > 0.05) at week 12. In comparison to the control group, the exercise group significantly increased cardiorespiratory fitness (median difference 2.26 minutes, 95% CI 0.98 to 3.55; p = 0.001). These results suggest that 12 weeks of progressive treadmill aerobic exercise increases cardiorespiratory fitness without exacerbating arterial stiffness, inflammation, or oxidative stress in women with SLE.enAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/aerobic fitnessatherosclerosisautoimmune diseasesexerciseinflammatory diseaselupusphysical fitnessphysical functionpulse wave velocityvascular healthresearch article30477218open access10.3390/jcm7120477PMC6306776https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/7/12/477/pdf?version=1543558018https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6306776/pdf