A follow-up study of ethnic and gender differences in cardiac rehabilitation

In a 1991 study, Romeo and Saccucci used the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP) to measure the perceived health status of individuals enrolled in a cardiac rehabilitation program and the perceived health status of those who received routine care. The participants were further classified by ethnic group and gender to enable the researchers to focus on the differential effects of cardiac rehabilitation on these groups. The present study was initiated to determine if the earlier results would remain consistent over time. The SIP was used to measure the health status of many of the same subjects within 3 years of the original measurement. The results of this study show fewer differences among the participants over the long term, which suggests that the time required for improvements may differ for various ethnic groups and for men and women.