Baseline Systolic Blood Pressure Response to Exercise Stress Test Can Predict Exercise Indices following Cardiac Rehabilitation Program

Abstract

Background: Systolic blood pressure recovery (rSBP) is of prognostic value for predicting the survival and co-morbidity rate in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). This study investigated the association between rSBP and exercise indices after complete cardiac rehabilitation program (CR) in a population-based sample of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).
Methods: The sample population consisted of 352 patients who underwent pure CABG. The patients underwent standard symptom-limited exercise testing immediately before and also after the completion of the CR sessions. rSBP was defined as the ratio of the systolic blood pressure at 3 minutes in recovery to the systolic blood pressure at peak exercise.
Results: An abnormal baseline rSBP after exercise was a strong predictor of exercise parameters in the last session, including metabolic equivalents (β = -0.617, SE = 0.127, p value < 0.001) and peak O₂ consumption (β = -1.950, SE = 0.363, p value < 0.001) measured in the last session adjusted for baseline exercise characteristics, demographics, function class, and left ventricular ejection fraction.
Conclusion: The current study strongly emphasizes the predictive role of baseline rSBP after exercise in evaluating exercise parameters following CR. This baseline index can predict abnormal METs value, peak O₂ consumption, post-exercise heart rate, and heart rate recovery after a 24-session CR program.