Effect of Cardiac Rehabilitation Program on Heart Rate Recovery after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention and Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

Abstract

Background: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a hospital-based cardiac rehabilitation program on heart rate recovery (HRR) in patients who received percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

Methods: Two hundred forty patients, who completed 24 sessions of a cardiac rehabilitation program (phase 2) after PCI (n=62) or CABG (n=178) at the rehabilitation department of Tehran Heart Center were included in the present study. Demographic and clinical characteristics and exercise capacity at baseline and at follow-up were compared between the two groups. The main outcome measurements were:  Resting heart rate, peak heart rate, and HRR.

Results: All the patients showed significant improvements in heart rate parameters from the baseline to the last sessions. The profile of atherosclerotic risk factors (except for diabetes mellitus) was similar between the PCI and CABG subjects. After eight weeks of cardiac rehabilitation, HRR increased averagely about 17 and 21 bpm among the CABG and PCI patients, respectively (p=0.019).

Conclusion: The results of the present study were indicative of an increase in HRR over 1 minute in patients irrespective of their initial revascularization modality (i.e. PCI or CABG) after the completion of cardiac rehabilitation. Be that as it may, the PCI patients achieved greater improvement in HRR by comparison with the CABG patients.