The effects of cardiac rehabilitation on resting heart rate and blood pressure in heart failure patients

Our study analyzed the efficiency of cardiac rehabilitation programs (CRP) in decreasing resting blood pressure (RBP) and heart rate (RHR), two important prognosis tools for heart failure (HF) patients. Materials and methods:A retrospective cohort study was conducted in a regional hospital over a 3-year period.A total of 137 HF patients, who benefited from a physical based CRP with a mean duration of 10 days, were divided into 2 groups according to the severity of their symptoms.All the patients underwent physical and paraclinical evaluation, including cardiopulmonary testing before starting the rehabilitation.RHR and RBP were measured b efore and at the end of the program.Results: Most of the patients in this study were men (73.7%) and hypertensive (55.5%), while the mean age of study's participants was 65.24 ± 9.76 years.A significant decrease was observed in the RHR after rehabilitation (81.37 ± 8.65 bpm vs. 77.79± 6.77 bpm, p = 0.004).Significant improvements were also observed in resting systolic blood pressure (BP), the mean values decreasing with more than 4% after reh abilitation (122.06 ± 16.2 mmHg vs. 116.91± 12.14 mmHg, p = 0.001).Mean diastolic BP also decreased at the end of the program (73.81 ± 12.05 mmHg vs. 72.8± 10.36 mmHg, p = 0.28).Though non-significant, age and baseline HR and BP appeared to be important ther apy response predictors.Younger patients and those who had higher HR and BP at the begi nning of the program benefited most from CRP. Conclusions: A short term CRP proved to be efficient in reducing RHR and RBP of HF patients, while age, baseline HR and baseline BP may be potential therapy response predictors.