Heart Wellness Programme: a pilot community-based cardiac rehabilitation programme in a multiethnic society

Community-based exercise programmes have been shown to be effective in the Western world. However, there is a dearth of literature on their effectiveness in Asia. This pilot study aims to assess the effectiveness of the Asian community-based Health Wellness Programme (HWP) in Singapore. The HWP provides community cardiac rehabilitation services.

A retrospective database analysis was conducted on cardiac rehabilitation patients who had completed the one-year wellness programme from 2010 to 2011. Patients were included in the programme if they had an underlying cardiac disease such as ischaemic heart disease and were deemed as stable by their cardiologist. Patients with New York Heart Association Class III or IV heart failure were excluded from this programme. Sociodemographic, anthropometric, clinical and laboratory data was recorded. Changes between the baseline and final measurements were analysed.

Complete data from a total of 136 patients was analysed. Improvements were noted in body fat percentage (change [Δ] -1.3%, p < 0.01), distance walked (Δ 9.7 m, p = 0.01), total cholesterol (Δ -7.8 mg/dL, p = 0.03), low-density lipoprotein (Δ -7.8 mg/dL, p = 0.03) and triglyceride (Δ -17.8 mg/dL, p < 0.01).

The low-to-moderate intensity HWP seems to be effective in a multiethnic community setting. To confirm the quality and effectiveness of such a programme in secondary cardiovascular prevention, more evidence from prospective controlled trials with suitable controls is needed.