Relationship between sessions attended and outcomes in outpatient cardiac rehabilitation

Abstract

Background - Patients with heart disease benefit from attending exercise and educational-based cardiac rehabilitation programs. The purpose of this study is to determine if the number of cardiac rehabilitation sessions attended or length of program enrollment affects patient outcomes. Methods ? The data consisted of 14,666 patient records with entry and discharge data from the Wisconsin Cardiac Rehabilitation Outcomes Registry (WiCORE). The magnitude of the change scores of cardiac rehabilitation components were analyzed for patients attending 1-12, 13-24, and 25-36 sessions, as well as for patients enrolled in a cardiac rehabilitation program for 1-60, 60-90, and greater than 90 days. Results ? Change scores of 14 different cardiac rehabilitation components were analyzed and included weight, waist circumference, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, triglycerides, SF-36 physical component, SF-36 mental component, minutes per day of exercise, days per week of exercise, and volume of exercise. Patients who attended a greater number of sessions or were enrolled in cardiac rehabilitation longer improved the most, with variations in magnitude of change. Conclusions - Although some of the changes in each component were significantly different (p<.05) between the groups of patients, the actual differences were small. However, if a patient is striving to improve his or her health, he or she should attend the maximum number of sessions or continue cardiac rehabilitation for the longest period of time that he or she can.