[Effect of cardiac rehabilitation following coronary bypass surgery or other coronary interventions]

Cardiac rehabilitation is a well-established treatment for patients with coronary artery disease but limited information is available for Icelandic patients. The aim of this study was to investigate whether Phase II cardiac rehabilitation at the HL rehabilitation center was improving physical health and quality of life of patients.

Patients that had undergone coronary artery intervention were invited to participate. There were 64 participants (of 65 invited) that started in the study and 48 that finished. On average participants attended 2.1 sessions pr. week, for 8.4 weeks. Measurements performed: endurance (W/kg), blood pressure and pulse responses from an exercise test and body mass index (kg/m2). To measure health related quality of life the SF-36v2 questionnaire was used.

Endurance improved by 14.4% (p<0,001) and a 6.1% increase was seen in peak pulse (p=0.001). The group was divided by age (32-64 years and 65-86 years) and both age groups improved their endurance number similarly (14.6% and 14.1%) but only the older age group improved peak pulse significantly or 7.2% (p=0.007). When the group was divided according to number of training sessions per week there was a 10.1% increase in endurance in the group that had fewer sessions but it was 19.8% in those that attended more sessions (p<0.001). Participants assessed that their physical health, measured with a questionnaire, had improved at the end of training (p=0.003). When the group was divided into two groups according to how they measured their physical health at the beginning of the study there was a significant increase of 15.1% in physical health in those that estimated worse quality of life at the beginning of the study, but the other group had an increase of 1.2%.

Cardiac rehabilitation improves endurance and physical wellbeing in patients. Training magnitude is essential for improvement.