Background The burden of cardiovascular disease worldwide is one of great concern to patients and health care agencies alike. Cardiac rehabilitation aims to restore patients with heart disease to health through exercise only based rehabilitation or comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation. Objectives To determine the effectiveness of exercise only or exercise as part of a comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation programme on the mortality, morbidity, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and modifiable cardiac risk factors of patients with coronary heart disease. Search strategy Electronic databases were searched for randomised controlled trials, using standardised trial filters, from the earliest date available to December 31st 1998. Selection criteria Men and women of all ages, in hospital or community settings, who have had myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass graft or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, or who have angina pectoris or coronary artery disease defined by angiography. Data collection and analysis Studies were selected independently by two reviewers, and data extracted independently. Authors were contacted where possible to obtain missing information. Main results This systematic review has allowed analysis of an increased number of patients from approximately 4500 in earlier meta-analyses to 8440 (7683 contributing to the total mortality outcome).
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.