Key result
Elderly patients (>65 years) with acute myocardial infarction required 12 weeks of cardiac rehabilitation to show significant improvement in aerobic capacity, whereas younger patients showed significant improvement after only 6 weeks.
Why the study?
To test the hypothesis that elderly patients require a longer duration of phase II cardiac rehabilitation to recover exercise capacity compared to younger patients.
Does phase II cardiac rehabilitation improve exercise capacity differently over time in elderly versus younger patients with acute myocardial infarction?
Cohort (n=70)
No
Does phase II cardiac rehabilitation improve exercise capacity differently over time in elderly versus younger patients with acute myocardial infarction?
Elderly patients with acute myocardial infarction require a longer duration of cardiac rehabilitation (>6 weeks) to achieve significant improvements in aerobic capacity compared to younger patients.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May support extended cardiac rehabilitation for elderly post-MI patients; hypothesis-generating for age-specific durations.
OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that a longer duration of phase II cardiac rehabilitation is required to recover the exercise capacity of elderly patients compared to younger patients. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed and analyzed the medical records of patients who were referred to our cardiac rehabilitation (CR) center and underwent percutaneous coronary intervention for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). A total of 70 patients were enrolled who underwent an exercise tolerance test (ETT) 3 weeks after the occurrence of an AMI (T0), 6 weeks after the first ETT (T1), and 12 weeks after the first ETT (T2). Patients older than 65 years were assigned to the elderly group (n=24) and those aged 65 years and younger to the younger group (n=46). Both groups performed center-based or home-based CR for 12 weeks (3 times per week and 1 session per day). Exercise intensity for each individual was based on the target heart rate calculated by the Karvonen formula. The change in maximal metabolic equivalents (METmax) of the two groups was measured at each assessment point (T0, T1, and T2) to investigate the recovery of exercise capacity. RESULTS: The younger group showed improvement in METmax between T0 and T1. However, METmax of the elderly group showed no significant improvement between T0 and T1. The exercise capacity, measured with METmax, of all groups showed improvement between T0 and T2. CONCLUSION: Elderly patients with AMI need a longer duration of CR (>6 weeks) than younger patients with AMI.
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Kim et al. (2020) conducted a cohort in Acute myocardial infarction (n=70). Older age (>65 years) during Phase II cardiac rehabilitation vs. Younger age (≤65 years) was evaluated on Change in maximal metabolic equivalents (METmax) between baseline (3 weeks post-AMI) and 6 weeks of cardiac rehabilitation. Elderly patients (>65 years) with acute myocardial infarction required 12 weeks of cardiac rehabilitation to show significant improvement in aerobic capacity, whereas younger patients showed significant improvement after only 6 weeks.
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