Impact of cardiac physiotherapy on the functional capacity of elderly people in primary care

Abstract

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Introduction Primary health care (PHC) is the first level of health care, and it includes health promotion and protection, as well as the prevention of aggravations from chronic diseases and comorbidities. The cardiovascular physiotherapy program in PHC is an important ally in prevention chronic diseases and maintaining functional capacity. Purpose: to evaluate the impact of a cardiovascular physiotherapy program on a functional capacity of elderly people in primary care. Methods: This is a randomized clinical trial, carried out with 30 elderly people who attended the FISIOCAP (cardiovascular physiotherapy program in primary care) program for at least 6 months. The assessment of functional capacity was performed through the six-minute walk (6MWT) and 1-min sit-to-stand test (1-MSTS). The patients were submitted to a supervised exercise program lasting 90 minutes, twice a week, for a period of 16 weeks. Each session consisted of a warm-up phase (10 minutes), conditioning (60 minutes), calm down (10 minutes) and health education (10 minutes). At the end of 16 weeks, the elderly underwent a reassessment on the 1MSTS and 6MWT. Results: After the cardiovascular physiotherapy program, the participants increased the distance covered by the 6MWT by 19% (p = 0.002) and significantly exceeded the distance covered predicted for gender and age. In 1MSTS, the participants obtained a significant improvement in the number of repetitions in the test (25.25 ± 5.72 to 27.67 ± 5.55, p = 0.04). Conclusion: The cardiovascular physiotherapy program significantly benefited the functional capacity of elderly patients attending PHC.