Very long-term benefits of cardiac rehabilitation on mortality and cardiovascular events after percutaneous coronary intervention
Abstract Background Short and medium-term benefits of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) after an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) have been well studied. However, studies on long-term benefits of such programs after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) are scarce. Purpose The aim of our study was to evaluate the impact of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) on very long-term mortality and morbidity after PCI. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 701 patients who underwent PCI at our hospital between 2004 and 2011. Patients were classified into two cohorts based on whether or not they participated in a CR program phase II. A follow-up was performed in May 2020. We collected the events occurring during a median follow-up of 11 years. Results 701 patients were included in our study: 291 (41.5%) participated in the CR program, whereas 410 (58.4%) refused to do it. AMI was the most frequent indication for PCI (51.9%), followed by unstable angina (42.8%). The characteristics of the cohort based on participation in the CR program are shown in the table below. Patients who participated in the CR program were younger and mostly male. However, those who refused to do it had a higher cardiovascular risk due to a higher percentage of multivessel disease, diabetes mellitus, kidney failure and history of cerebrovascular accident. Using multivariate logistic regression, CR participation was found to be associated with significantly reduced all-cause mortality (19.5 vs 48.4%; OR 0.455; IC95% 0.295–0.701; p<0.001) and cardiac mortality (4.5% vs 18.0%; OR 0.361; IC95% 0.181–0.721; p 0.004). CR is also associated with a substantial decrease in heart failure hospitalization (10.0% vs 24.8%; OR 0.557; IC95% 0.331–0.937; p 0.027) and incidence of stroke (5.5% vs 10.6%; OR 0.491; IC95% 0.271–0.890; p<0.017) during the follow-up. No significant differences were observed in re-AMI (20.6% vs 24.1%, p=NS). Conclusion CR participation after PCI is associated with lower all-cause mortality, cardiac mortality, heart failure hospitalization rates and morbidity during long-term follow-up. FUNDunding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None.