Effectiveness of Exercise-Based Cardiac Rehabilitation for Patients With Left Ventricular Assist Device: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Abstract

therapy (ST); O:the clinical impact of EBCR in LVAD patients(6MWD and peak V•o2 in patients with advanced HF who under-go LVAD implantation). Eligibility criteria: Studies were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis if they (1) assessed the impact of EBCR in LVAD recipients; (2) included a standard therapy (ST) group for comparison; and (3) enrolled adult subjects (>18 years of age). Exclusion criteria included (1) non-English language publication; (2) published abstract without full-text publication; (3) studies assessing the effect of cardiac rehabilitation on LVAD recipients without an ST group; (4) studies assessing the effect of different treatment strategies of cardiac rehabilitation without an ST group; and (5) studies lacking endpoint measures such as peak Vo2 and 6-minute walk distance (6MWD). Standard therapy was defined as LVAD recipients who were not given any individualized/structured exercise prescription apart from advice to walk regularly by their physicians (30-45 min/d). The EBCR group was defined as participation in a structured cardiac rehabilitation program with a clearly defined protocol. INPLASY registration number: This protocol was registered with the International Platform of Registered Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (INPLASY) on 20 April 2023 and was last u p d a t e d o n 2 0 A p r i l 2 0 2 3 ( r e g i s t r a t i o n n u m b e r INPLASY202340073).