Long-Term Effectiveness of Cardiac Rehabilitation: A Follow-Up Assessment.

Follow-up (F/U) outcome assessment after completion of formalized cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is key to evaluating program effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to assess coronary risk factors (CRF) and health related quality of life (HRQoL) in a cohort of 126 consecutive patients who completed a 6 mo CR program. Eighty patients (63%) completed the F/U, a mean of 14 mos (range 11 - 17 mos) from onset of CR, including lipid profile, weight (kg), physical activity (kcal/wk) and HRQoL (SF-36), with physical (PCS) and mental (MCS) component scales reported. At baseline the F/U group had a lower weight and TG, and higher HDL-C than the group who failed to complete F/U. A repeated measures ANOVA assessed the differences in variables over time in the F/U group and a Bonferroni correction was used in the post-hoc analysis. All variables except TG improved over time, baseline to F/U (see table). There was a trend towards improvement in most outcomes between CR completion and F/U except for MCS which declined. In conclusion, in these select CR patients, key clinical and HRQoL outcomes were sustained at F/U, except psycho-social indicators. This infers long-term adherence to risk reduction and behaviour change.Table