Long-term Cardiac Maintenance Programming: A SINGLE-SITE ANALYSIS OF MORE THAN 200 PARTICIPANTS

Purpose: Greater than 65% of all cardiac mortality is related to coronary artery disease (CAD). Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) aims to reduce cardiovascular risk and number of hospital readmissions. Cardiac maintenance programs (CMPs) are designed to sustain or improve health after completing early CR. Although CMPs are supported by most national health guidelines, few long-term studies on these diverse programs have been performed. Methods: This was a retrospective repeated-measures analysis with case-controlled subanalysis. Within-subject differences for CMP participants were examined between enrollment and last clinical visit. Assessments included medical history, anthropometry, blood analysis, and cardiopulmonary exercise testing. A subset of 20 CMP participants were compared with 20 patients with CAD who chose not to participate in CMP, matched for age, sex, and follow-up duration. Results: A total of 207 patients (60 ± 9 yr, 16% female) were included for the primary analyses. Average follow-up was 6.3 ± 4.8 yr (range 4-20 yr). CMP participants reduced peak workload (1.76 ± 0.56 to 1.60 ± 0.58 W/kg; P
Source: Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation - Category: Rehabilitation Tags: Cardiac Rehabilitation Source Type: research