Key result
Changes in exercise capacity during an 8-week cardiac rehabilitation program weakly correlated with health-related quality of life, explaining only 4% of changes in physical functioning.
Why the study?
Does exercise capacity correlate with health-related quality of life in patients with cardiac disease participating in an 8-week exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation program?
Observational (n=277)
Does exercise capacity correlate with health-related quality of life in patients with cardiac disease participating in an 8-week exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation program?
Improvements in exercise capacity and health-related quality of life following cardiac rehabilitation are weakly correlated, suggesting both should be measured independently.
PURPOSE: Patients are referred to exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (ECR) to increase exercise capacity and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and thereby reduce risk of morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation between exercise capacity and HRQOL. Furthermore, this study examined whether improvements in HRQOL were directly related to improvements in exercise capacity. METHODS: The study included 277 patients participating in ECR. HRQOL was assessed using the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), and exercise capacity was measured as peak oxygen uptake ((Equation is included in full-text article.)O2peak) and oxygen uptake ((Equation is included in full-text article.)O2) at the ventilatory threshold (VTh). Patients were examined before and after completion of an 8-wk ECR program. RESULTS: Analyses at baseline showed a significant correlation between (Equation is included in full-text article.)O2peak and VTh and physical functioning (PF), role limitations because of physical problems (RP), general health perceptions (GH), vitality (VT), and physical component summary (PCS) on the SF-36; PF was the only dimension showing a moderate correlation (>0.40 Spearman ρ) with (Equation is included in full-text article.)O2peak. The follow-up analyses demonstrated a significant correlation between changes in (Equation is included in full-text article.)O2peak and changes in PF, RP, VT, and MH. Changes in (Equation is included in full-text article.)O2 peak explained 4% of the changes in the PF and VT scores. CONCLUSION: The correlations between exercise capacity and HRQOL were weak and varied considerably among patients. The ECR program improved both exercise capacity and HRQOL, but it was not necessarily the same patients who improved both parameters. Therefore, it is recommended to use separate objective measures and patient-reported outcomes when evaluating the effect of ECR.
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Andersen et al. (2017) conducted an observational in Cardiac disease (n=277). Exercise capacity (peak oxygen uptake) was evaluated on Correlation between exercise capacity and health-related quality of life. Changes in exercise capacity during an 8-week cardiac rehabilitation program weakly correlated with health-related quality of life, explaining only 4% of changes in physical functioning.
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