Associations Between Cardiovascular Parameters and Functional Capacity, Physical Activity, and Quality of Life in Patients Undergoing Cardiac Rehabilitation

Introduction Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is well established, but the relationship between cardiovascular parameters and health-related measures in patients with cardiovascular disease remains insufficiently characterized. In addition, evidence on immediate post-exercise cardiovascular responses during routine CR sessions is limited. Purpose To examine the associations between cardiovascular parameters and health-related factors, including quality of life, functional capacity, and physical activity level, in patients with cardiovascular disease participating in a CR program. Secondarily, to evaluate immediate post-exercise changes in central and peripheral hemodynamic parameters after a single supervised CR session. Methods This experimental study evaluated cardiovascular parameters before and immediately after a single CR session using the Mobil-O-Graph®. Quality of life was assessed using the SF-36. Functional capacity and physical activity level were evaluated using the Duke Activity Status Index (DASI) and the Human Activity Profile (HAP), respectively. The sample was composed of patients enrolled in a CR program. Results Seventy-one patients (75.14± 10.28 years) were included. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) was negatively correlated with DASI scores (r = -0.5387, p = 0.0001), HAP adjusted activity score (r = -0.4964, p = 0.0001), HAP maximum activity score (r = -0.2904, p = 0.0140), physical functioning, and physical limitation domains of the SF-36. Central diastolic blood pressure was positively associated with DASI and HAP adjusted activity score. Central systolic blood pressure, central diastolic blood pressure, and peripheral mean arterial pressure were positively associated with the general health status domain of the SF-36. As secondary findings, heart rate increased, stroke volume decreased, and both reflection coefficient and aortic pulsatility decreased immediately after exercise, whereas blood pressure, AIx@75, and PWV did not change significantly. Conclusion In this CR population with cardiovascular disease, lower functional capacity and lower physical activity levels were associated with higher PWV. Clinically, functional capacity and physical activity may serve as accessible markers of vascular health, guiding routine assessment and individualized rehabilitation. In addition, immediate post-exercise reductions in reflection coefficient and aortic pulsatility were also observed. However, these secondary findings should be interpreted cautiously, mainly because several hemodynamic variables were derived from algorithm-derived estimates from the Mobil-O-Graph.