Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation effective for coronary heart disease
CLINICAL QUESTION
How effective is exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation on mortality, morbidity, and health-related quality of life (QOL) in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD)?
BOTTOM LINE
Compared to usual care, in medium to longer-term follow-up (≥12 months) exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation was found to be effective in reducing overall and cardiovascular mortality in patients with CHD, and appeared to reduce the risk of hospital admissions in the shorter term (<12 months follow-up). There was no reduction seen in the risk of total myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass graft, or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty.
CAVEAT
There appears to be little difference between exercise alone, or in combination with psychosocial or educational cardiac rehabilitation interventions. There were insufficient data to definitely conclude that exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation improves health-related QOL compared to control. Despite inclusion of more recent trials, the population studied was predominantly male, middle-aged, and low risk.
CONTEXT
The burden of CHD worldwide is one of concern to patients and healthcare agencies alike. Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation aims to improve health outcomes for people with CHD through either regular exercise alone, or a combination of exercise with education and psychological support.
COCHRANE SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
Heran BS, Chen JM, Ebrahim S, et al. Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2011; (7): CD001800. DOI: CD001800. 10.1002/14651858.CD001800.pub2.
Acknowledgments
Republished with permission of New Zealand Doctor.
- © British Journal of General Practice 2013