The Impact of Cardiac Rehabilitation on Psychosocial Factors, Functional Capacity, and Left Ventricular Function in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background Cardiac rehabilitation is a multifaceted program implemented after adverse events. It aims at facilitating the return to normal life. This review aimed to examine the impact of cardiac rehabilitation on psychosocial risk factors, functional capacity, and left ventricular function. Methods The following databases: CINAHL, Scopus, PubMed, and Cochrane Library have been searched to retrieve the randomized controlled trials that investigate the effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation versus usual care on anxiety, depression, peak oxygen consumption, six-minute walk distance, left ventricular ejection fraction, and left ventricular end-systolic and diastolic dimensions. Filters were set to retrieve trials that were published in the English Language between 2000 and 2024. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool (Rob2). Data were analysed meta-analytically. Results Twenty two (22) trials were included, randomized 2283 participants. A significant improvement favouring intervention groups was observed in anxiety SMD = -0.3890 (95% CI: -0.5640 to -0.2140; p˂0.001), depression SMD = -0.4032 (95% CI: -0.7114 to -0.0950; p= 0.002), peak oxygen consumption MD = 1.2471 (95% CI: 0.3963 to 2.0979; p = 0.004), six-minute walk distance MD = 36.0290 (95% CI: 7.7497 to 64.3082; p = 0.013), and left ventricular ejection fraction MD = 3.0650 (95% CI: 1.1279 to 5.0022; p = 0.001), Although cardiac rehabilitation had no significant effect in decreasing left ventricular end-diastolic dimension MD = -0.0480 (95% CI: -0.2609 to 0.1648; p = 0.658) and left ventricular end-systolic and MD = -0.0670 (95% CI: -0.2829 to 0.1489; p = 0.543) a favourable trend toward intervention group was seen. Risk of bias was high in 1 study and unclear in 7 studies. Conclusion For patients with Coronary Artery Disease, cardiac rehabilitation demonstrated effectiveness in improving psychological symptoms such as anxiety and depression, functional capacity as measured by peak oxygen consumption and six-minute walk test, and left ventricular function.