Sustainability of physical work capacity two years post outpatient cardiac rehabilitation

To determine if supervised training, after the completion of cardiac rehabilitation program, performed for a further two years would help maintain beneficial effects achieved during prolonged outpatient cardiac rehabilitation.

Longitudinal parallel-grouped intervention study.

Patients with coronary artery disease (n  =  41, age 59.5 ± 9.3 years), who finished cardiac rehabilitation phase III in our outpatient cardiac rehabilitation facility.

Two years of supervised exercise training consisting of endurance (either high intensity interval training or pyramid training) and resistance training sessions once a week.

Peak physical work capacity was assessed via an ergometry testing at the beginning and at the end of the study.

Comparisons between end-of-cardiac rehabilitation and two years post cardiac rehabilitation revealed maintenance of peak physical work capacity after two years (begin vs end: 170  ±  59 W vs 167  ±  60 W; -0.5  ±  12.8%; p = 0.521). This was independent of exercise training protocols (percent change begin vs end: pyramid: 1.5 ±  11.8%; interval: -1.6  ±  13.4%; p = 0.459).

Improvement of physical exercise capacity gained during outpatient cardiac rehabilitation can be maintained for up to two years by once-weekly supervised exercise training. Long-term, group-based exercise programs offered at the end of cardiac rehabilitation might be an effective tool to help patients maintain their physical work capacity.