Introduction: Decompensated Heart Failure patients are characterized by functional dependence and low exercise tolerance. Aerobic exercise can improve symptoms, promoting functional capacity and an increase of exercise tolerance. However, the benefits of early rehabilitation for inpatients have not been validated yet. Objective: To identify the use of aerobic exercise training in acute heart failure patients and, as secondary objective, to determine the feasibility, safety and effectiveness of such intervention. Methods: An integrative review with a search in PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Scientific Electronic Library Online and Cochrane Library was conducted on January of 2020, to identify randomized controlled trials comparing patients who performed aerobic exercise training during inhospital stay, with patients who only performed usual care, published from January 2014 to December 2019. Additional hand search was performed in the national repository of academic works. The search retrieved 381 articles. Only one met the inclusion criteria. Results: One RCT was identified, with an assessment of high risk of bias, comparing patients who performed in-bed cycloergometer with patients who performed the same intervention with non-invasive ventilation and control group. The use of non-invasive ventilation lead patients to present a better performance, but even patients without non-invasive ventilation had significantly better results than the ones who only performed the usual care. Conclusions: Despite the results pointing some benefits, there is insufficient data to determine the feasibility, safety and effectiveness of aerobic exercise training in acute heart failure inpatients. More research is needed to validate its use.
