Cardiac rehabilitation for people with heart disease: an overview of Cochrane systematic reviews

The U-shaped relationship between exercise and cardiac morbidity

“…4 Data in octogenarians show that those who are physically active have a lower prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) and studies in heart failure patients demonstrate that exercise improves functional capacity and wellbeing. 5 AF is the commonest arrhythmia in the general population and is associated with a 5-fold increase in the risk of cerebrovascular accidents and a 2-fold increase in all-cause mortality. Moderate physical activity is associated with a reduced prevalence of AF especially in older adults, possibly by mitigating the effects of ischemic heart disease and hypertension which are commonly implicated in the causation of the arrhythmia.…”

Changes in Exercise Capacity and Psychosocial Factors in Hospitalized Cardiac Surgery Patients

“…The efficacy of multidisciplinary cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programs has already been proven (1,2). CR programs not only include exercise training but also are customized for a specific individual, aiming to improve quality of life by reducing risk factors and providing psychological support, nutritional care, and guidance on how to resume daily life activities, such as returning to work (1,2).…”

“…CR programs not only include exercise training but also are customized for a specific individual, aiming to improve quality of life by reducing risk factors and providing psychological support, nutritional care, and guidance on how to resume daily life activities, such as returning to work (1,2). The benefits of CR include a reduction in mortality rates, symptom relief, improved exercise capacity, risk factor modification, and improved overall psychosocial well-being (3).…”

Cardiac Rehabilitation

“…A recent systematic review determined that exercise-based CR is associated with a lower risk of both overall mortality (relative risk, 0.87; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.75Y0.99) and cardiovascular mortality (relative risk, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.63Y0.87) in patients up to 12 months after an ACS. 13 Compared with usual care, exercisebased CR can also reduce risk factors contributing to progression of ACS through greater reductions in total cholesterol (weighted mean difference [WMD], j0.37 mmol/L; 95% CI, j0.63 to j0.11 mmol/L), triglyceride levels (WMD, j0.23 mmol/L; 95% CI, j0.39 to j0.07 mmol/L), systolic blood pressure (WMD, j3.2 mm Hg; 95% CI, j5.4 to j0.9 mm Hg), and lower rates of self-reported smoking (odds ratio, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.50Y0.83). 14 These effects are independent of mode of CR delivery.…”