Cardiac rehabilitation and exercise training improves prognosis after major coronary events, but greater efforts are needed to increase its availability and affordability for patients.
Highlights the need to make cardiac rehabilitation more accessible and affordable for patients following major CHD events.
Substantial evidence demonstrates the critical role of cardiac rehabilitation and exercise training (CRET) programmes following major coronary heart disease (CHD) events.1 Although a recent meta-analysis has questioned the impact of CRET on total mortality,2 there is still substantial evidence that this therapy reduces cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality and improves overall prognosis following major CHD events.1–3 Additionally, this therapy has dramatic effects to improve CHD risk factors, exercise capacity, psychological risk factors associated with higher mortality and overall health-related quality of life (HRQoL).1 3 4 However, as we recently reviewed, the majority of candidates for CRET do not actually attend these programmes,1 4 and greater efforts are needed to make these programmes more available to patients in rural areas, those which transportation or employment issues, as well as efforts to make this therapy even more ‘cost effective’ for our patients. In their Heart paper, Maddison and colleagues5 from Australia and New Zealand report on a randomised controlled trial of CRET, with …
Lavie et al. (2018) conducted an editorial in Coronary heart disease (CHD). Cardiac rehabilitation and exercise training (CRET) was evaluated. Cardiac rehabilitation and exercise training improves prognosis after major coronary events, but greater efforts are needed to increase its availability and affordability for patients.