CARDIAC REHABILITATION UPTAKE FOLLOWING MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION, PERCUTANEOUS CORONARY INTERVENTION AND CARDIAC SURGERY: A LOCAL SCENARIO

Abstract

BACKGROUND
The suboptimal utilization of Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) poses a
challenge to health policy makers in the prevention and management
of coronary heart diseases. Therefore, there is an increased
need to understand the factors affecting CR attendance, to
reduce the wide gap between the proven benefits of CR and its
clinically low utilization.
OBJECTIVE
To determine attendance rate and factors affecting outpatient
CR enrollment
METHODS
Total 2267 patients were included where the eligibility criterion was
set according to broadened candidacy for CR programs. Patients
with severe functional impairment or any co-existing debilitating
morbidities in which exercise was contraindicated were excluded.
RESULTS
The mean age of patients was 57.43±12.2 years and 75.7% were
males. Out of 221 (10%) enrolled patients, 188 patients (83.2%)
completed >6 weeks of outpatient CR and 49.6% patients had
undergone CABG surgery. Significant association was found
between CR attendance and patient’s medical diagnosis &
procedure (P<0.01), ethnicity (P<0.05) and educational level
(P<0.01). No association was found between CR attendance and
patient’s gender, age and employment status. Among non-attendees,
58.6% had undergone PCI and 16.2% had no formal
education.
CONCLUSION
Patients who were educated and underwent CABG surgery had
better attendance. Considerable efforts need to be taken to use
patient-specific CR to reduce ethnic and cultural barriers.