Purpose: Clinical interventions in programs such as cardiac rehabilitation (CR) are guided by clinical characteristics of participating patients. This study describes changes in CR participant characteristics over 20 yr.
Methods:To examine changes in patient characteristics over time, we analyzed data from 1996 to 2015 (n = 5396) garnered from a systematically and prospectively gathered database. Linear, logistic, multinomial logistic or negative binomial regression were used, as appropriate. Effects of sex and index diagnosis were considered both as interactions and as additive effects.Results: Analyses revealed that mean age increased (60.7 to 64.2 yr), enrollment of women increased (26.8% to 29.6%), and index diagnosis has shifted; coronary artery bypass surgery decreased (37.2% to 21.6%) while heart valve (HV) repair/replace increased (0 to 11.4%). Risk factors also shifted with increases in body mass index (28.7 vs 29.6 kg/m 2 ), obesity (33.2% to 39.6%), hypertension (51% to 62.5%), type 2 diabetes mellitus (17.3% to 21.7%), and those reporting current smoking (6.6% to 8.4%). Directly measured peak aerobic capacity remained relatively stable throughout. The proportion of patients on statin therapy increased from 63.6% to 98.9% coinciding with significant improvements in lipid levels.Conclusions: Compared to 1996, participants entering CR in 2015 were older, more overweight, and had a higher prevalence of coronary risk factors. Lipid values improved substantially concurrent with increased statin use. While the percentage of female participants increased, they continue to be underrepresented. HV patients now constitute 11.4% of the patients enrolled. Clinical programs need to recognize changing characteristics of attendees to best tailor interventions.
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