Key result
Comprehensive outpatient cardiac rehabilitation significantly decreased the proportion of frailty and pre-frailty from 91.8% to 67.3% in patients aged 80 years and older with cardiovascular diseases.
Why the study?
With a growing population aged ≥80 years, cardiovascular disease and related comorbidities like frailty and reduced quality of life are increasing, prompting evaluation of outpatient cardiac rehabilitation in this group.
Does comprehensive outpatient cardiac rehabilitation improve frailty, quality of life, exercise tolerance, and endothelial function in patients aged ≥80 years with cardiovascular diseases?
Observational (n=49)
No
Does comprehensive outpatient cardiac rehabilitation improve frailty, quality of life, exercise tolerance, and endothelial function in patients aged ≥80 years with cardiovascular diseases?
Comprehensive outpatient cardiac rehabilitation is safe and significantly improves physical function, exercise tolerance, and quality of life in octogenarians with cardiovascular disease.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May support cardiac rehabilitation to reduce frailty in octogenarians with CVD; hypothesis-generating, requires randomized confirmation.
Background In 2023, Japan had the highest proportion of the elderly in the world, with one in 10 individuals aged ≥80 years. Consequently, the number of patients with cardiovascular diseases is increasing. Older patients often have comorbidities such as frailty, sarcopenia, and cognitive decline that leads to a decreased quality of life (QOL). We analyzed the effects of outpatient cardiac rehabilitation (OCR) in elderly patients with cardiovascular disease. Methods The comprehensive OCR had been provided by a multidisciplinary team. We analyzed data from 49 patients with cardiovascular diseases, aged ≥80 years, who received cardiopulmonary exercise (CPX) tests based OCR. Frailty, physical function, QOL, exercise tolerance, and vascular endothelial function were assessed before and after OCR. Results All 49 patients had completed the OCR program. The mean patients’ age was 84.1 ± 3.6 years and 32.7% were male. The proportion of frailty and pre-frailty participants significantly decreased from 92% to 67% following OCR. The QOL (KCCQ: 76.8 ± 18.4 vs. 81.4 ± 20.4; P = 0.0196), exercise tolerance (peak VO₂: 14.1 ± 4.0 vs. 15.4 ± 3.9 mL/min/kg; P = 0.0017), and vascular endothelial function (Ln-RHI: 0.48 ± 0.39 vs. 0.57 ± 0.3; P = 0.027) significantly improved after OCR. Conclusions The comprehensive OCR with CPX-based exercise therapy and the multidisciplinary approach significantly improved frailty, the QOL, physical function, exercise tolerance, and vascular endothelial function in patients with cardiovascular diseases aged ≥80 years.
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Someya et al. (2025) conducted an observational in Cardiovascular diseases (n=49). Outpatient cardiac rehabilitation (OCR) vs. Baseline (pre-OCR) was evaluated on Proportion of frailty and pre-frailty (p=0.0015). Comprehensive outpatient cardiac rehabilitation significantly decreased the proportion of frailty and pre-frailty from 91.8% to 67.3% in patients aged 80 years and older with cardiovascular diseases.
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