Women's Cardiac Rehabilitation Barriers: Results of the International Council of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation's First Global Assessment.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programs are underutilized globally, especially by women. In this study we investigated sex differences in CR barriers across all world regions, to our knowledge for the first time, the characteristics associated with greater barriers in women, and women's greatest barriers according to enrollment status. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, the English, Simplified Chinese, Arabic, Portuguese, or Korean versions of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Barriers Scale was administered to CR-indicated patients globally via Qualtrics from October 2021 to March 2023. Members of the International Council of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation community facilitated participant recruitment. Mitigation strategies were provided and rated. RESULTS: Participants were 2163 patients from 16 countries across all 6 World Health Organization regions; 916 (42.3%) were women. Women did not report significantly greater total barriers overall, but did in 2 regions (Americas, Western Pacific) and men in 1 (Eastern Mediterranean; all P < 0.001). Women's barriers were greatest in the Western Pacific (2.6 ± 0.4/5) and South East Asian (2.5 ± 0.9) regions (P < 0.001), with lack of CR awareness as the greatest barrier in both. Women who were unemployed reported significantly greater barriers than those not (P < 0.001). Among nonenrolled referred women, the greatest barriers were not knowing about CR, not being contacted by the program, cost, and finding exercise tiring or painful. Among enrolled women, the greatest barriers to session adherence were distance, transportation, and family responsibilities. Mitigation strategies were rated as very helpful (4.2 ± 0.7/5). CONCLUSIONS: CR barriers-men's and women's-vary significantly according to region, necessitating tailored approaches to mitigation. Efforts should be made to mitigate unemployed women's barriers in particular.

Effect of Sleep Intervention Programs during Cardiac Rehabilitation on the Sleep Quality of Heart Patients.

Materials and Methods: In this quasi-experimental study with unequal control group design, 35 individuals participated in the cardiac rehabilitation program as the experimental group and 35 served as the control group. The program included 12 weeks of exercise, 3 sessions per week, 3 sessions of training programs each lasting for 45 minutes, and a special two-session sleep improvement program. Data were collected using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and analysed with descriptive and inferential statistical methods. Results: There were not any significant differences between the two groups in age, sex, marital status, smoking, and indication for cardiac rehabilitation (P > 0.05). The scores of sleep quality of patients were 9.2 ± 1.58 before and 4.40 ± 1.14 after intervention in the experimental group and 9.02 ± 2.56 before and 7.48 ± 1.86 after intervention in the control group. There was no significant difference between the two groups before intervention (P = 0.73). yet there was a significant difference after intervention (P = 0.0001). In addition, scores of sleep quality of patients were significantly different in the experimental and control groups before and after intervention (P = 0.0001). Conclusion: Findings indicated that the quality of sleep of cardiac patients improved after the sleep intervention program during the cardiac rehabilitation program. Therefore, it is suggested to implement sleep improvement programs for cardiac patient care as an effective, easy, and feasible technique. In addition, it is necessary to pay more attention to the sleep improvement program in cardiac rehabilitation. Trial Registration. The trial was retrospectively registered on https://en.irct.ir/trial/50799 on 14 September 2020 (14.09.2020) with registration number IRCT20140307016870N6.

Cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric validation of the Persian version of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Barriers Scale (CRBS-P).

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to translate, cross-culturally adapt and psychometrically validate a Persian version of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Barriers Scale (CRBS-P) and to identify the main barriers in an Iranian setting. SETTING: Afshar cardiac rehabilitation (CR) centre, affiliated with the Yazd University of Medical Sciences, in the centre of Iran. DESIGN: This was a multimethod study, culminating in a cross-sectional survey. PARTICIPANTS: Inpatient CR graduates who did not attend their initial outpatient CR appointment. METHOD: The 21-item CRBS was translated and cross-culturally adapted in accordance with best practices; an expert panel considered the items and previous non-attending patients were interviewed via phone to refine the scale. Next, structural validity was assessed; participants were invited to complete the CRBS on the phone between March 2017 and February 2018. Using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with principal component analysis extraction and oblique rotation. Second, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to verify the results; several goodness-of-fit indices were considered. The internal consistency and 3-week test-retest reliability of the scale (5% subsample) were evaluated using Cronbach's α and intraclass correlation (ICC), respectively. RESULTS: Face, content and cross-cultural validity were established by the experts and patients (n=50). One thousand and one hundred (40.7%) of the 2700 patients completed the CRBS-P. Structural validity was established by EFA (Bartlett's test p<0.001; =0.759) and confirmed by the CFA; a four-factor solution with 18 items accounting for 61.256% of variance had the best fit (χ2/df=3.206, root mean square error of approximation=0.061 and Comparative Fit Index=0.959). The internal consistency and test-retest reliability (n=42) of the scale were acceptable (ICC=0.743 95% CI (0.502 to 0.868); overall α=0.797). The top barriers were not knowing about CR, cost and lack of encouragement from physicians. CONCLUSION: The four-factor, 18-item CRBS-P had good psychometric properties, and hence can be reliably and validly used to measure CR barriers in Iran and other Persian-speaking populations.

Cardiac Specialists' Perspectives on Barriers to Cardiac Rehabilitation Referral and Participation in a Low-Resource Setting.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac specialists are arguably the most influential providers in ensuring patients access cardiac rehabilitation (CR). Physician barriers to referral have been scantly investigated outside of high-income settings, and not qualitatively. AIM: This study investigated cardiac specialists' perceptions of barriers and facilitators to patient CR participation in a low-resource setting, with a focus on referral. METHODS: In this qualitative study, focus groups were conducted with conventional content analysis. Thirteen of 14 eligible cardiac specialists working in Yazd, Iran, participated in 1 or both focus groups (n = 9 and n = 10, respectively). The recording of the first focus group was transcribed into a word file verbatim, and the accuracy of the content of all field notes and the transcripts was approved by the research team, which was then analyzed inductively. Following a similar process, saturation was achieved with the second focus group. RESULTS: Four themes emerged: "physician factors," "center factors," "patient factors," and "cultural factors." Regarding "physician factors," most participants mentioned shortage of time. Regarding "center factors," most participants mentioned poor physician-patient-center coordination. In "patient factors," the subcategories that arose were socioeconomic challenges and clinical condition of the patients. "Cultural factors" related to lack of belief in behavioral/preventive medicine. CONCLUSIONS: Barriers to CR referral and participation were multilevel, as in high-resource settings. However, relative recency of the introduction of CR in these settings seemed to cause great lack of awareness. Cultural beliefs may differ, and communication from CR programs to referring providers was a particular challenge in this setting.

Establishment of cardiac rehabilitation program in Yazd-Iran: An experience of a developing country.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular diseases are the most common causes of mortality in the world including Iran and are one of the main causes of disability. Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) is a multidisciplinary program that helps CVD patients recover faster after a heart attack and avoid any subsequent incident. This report determined the current state of CR in Yazd, Iran. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROGRAM: Hospital-based Afshar CR program in Yazd, Iran, is the only CR facility in Yazd province, which is located in the centre of Iran. Currently, the Afshar CR program has four phases including inpatient, sub-acute, outpatient and maintenance. The CR team includes cardiologists and heart surgeons as physicians, and physical medicine rehabilitation specialist, outpatient and inpatient resident medical officers, psychiatrists, nutritionists, psychologists, physiotherapists and social workers. DISCUSSION: Given the facilities and training programs mentioned above, the rate of patient referral to the center by the inpatient CR team during the short life of CR in this center was 60%, the patient participation rate was 6.9% and the enrollment rate was 55%. In addition, over the past three years, 57% of registered patients completed the program. CONCLUSION: The Afshar CR is trying to get closer to the world standard setting. But it seems that it is necessary to develop the standard of CR in Iran based on the culture and socio-economic status of Iranian community.

The Impact of Hospital-Based Cardiac Rehabilitation on Signal Average ECG Parameters of the Heart After Myocardial Infarction.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac rehabilitation is a combination of integrated programs aimed at improving outcomes in patients recovering from heart events. OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed to evaluate the early benefits of supervised exercise training on electrophysiological function of post-ischemic myocardium. In this regard, signal-averaged electrocardiogram (SAECG) was used. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between May and September 2012, all patients (n = 100) admitted to our center, with the diagnosis of acute Myocardial Infarction (MI), were enrolled in this study. Every other patient was assigned to two groups receiving either inpatient cardiac rehabilitation plus standard post-MI care (cases) or only standard post-MI care (controls). Electrophysiological function was assessed by SAECG in all the patients at baseline and on the day 5. The patients were considered as having late potential if they had abnormalities in at least two SAECG indices. RESULTS: Cardiac rehabilitation led to significant improvements in QRS duration (P < 0.001), square root of amplitude in the last 40 ms (P < 0.001) and duration of terminal signal with low amplitude (P < 0.001). Cardiac rehabilitation also resulted in amelioration of SAECG parameters; frequency of patients with late potential significantly decreased from 64% to 20% after five days (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Supervised in-hospital exercise training was associated with improvements in SAECG-measured electrical activity post-MI.

Effect of Cardiac Rehabilitation Program on Heart Rate Recovery in Coronary Heart Disease.

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that the autonomic system function and the metabolic syndrome can significantly affect patients' survival. The aim of the current study was to investigate the impact of the cardiac rehabilitation program on the autonomic system balance in patients with coronary artery disease. METHODS: Patients with a previous diagnosis of coronary artery disease who were referred to the Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Center of Afshar Hospital (Yazd, Iran) between March and November 2011 were enrolled. All the patients participated in rehabilitation sessions 3 times a week for 12 weeks. Heart rate recovery (HRR) was measured as an indicator of the autonomic system balance. In order to calculate HRR, the maximum heart rate during the exercise test was recorded. At the end of the exercise test, the patients were asked to sit down without having a cooldown period and their heart rate was recorded again after 1 minute. The difference between these 2 measurements was considered as HRR. RESULTS: A total of 108 patients, including 86 (79.6%) men and 22 (20.4%) women, completed the rehabilitation course. The mean age of the study participants was 58.25 ± 9.83 years. A statistically significant improvement was observed in HRR (p value = 0.040). Significant declines were also observed in the patients' waist circumference (p value < 0.001) and systolic and diastolic blood pressures (p value = 0.018 and 0.003, respectively). A decreasing trend was observed in the patients' body mass index, but it failed to reach statistical significance (p value = 0.063). No statistically meaningful changes were noted in fasting blood glucose (p value = 0.171), high-density lipoprotein (p value = 0.070), or triglyceride concentrations (p value = 0.149). CONCLUSION: The cardiac rehabilitation program may help to improve HRR and several components of the metabolic syndrome in patients with coronary heart disease.

Effect of inpatient cardiac rehabilitation on QT dispersion in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

QT dispersion is an indicator of lack of ventricular repolarization homogeneity and an independent predictor for ventricular arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death. In this study, we evaluated the effect of inpatient cardiac rehabilitation on QT dispersion in patients admitted to Afshar hospital CCU with diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), including ST elevation or non-ST elevation MI. Sixty patients with diagnosis of AMI were randomly divided into two 30-subject groups. The subjects in the first group were undergone inpatient cardiac rehabilitation, and the subjects in the control group received only conventional treatments. QT interval dispersion was measured in two occasions: once in the first day of admission and once before discharge from hospital. In this study there was a significant reduction in QT dispersion in patients undergoing inpatient cardiac rehabilitation (48.4 vs. 42.4 ms, P<0.001), but in the control group, QT dispersion was not significantly reduced (49.2 vs. 46.2 ms, P>0.05). The reduction was not significantly different regarding gender. The effectiveness of the rehabilitation on the reduction of QT dispersion was not affected by such variables as age, gender, hypertension, positive family history, hyperlipidemia, type of AMI (with ST-elevation or non-ST-elevation) and left ventricular ejection fraction. Diabetes caused a resistance to the beneficial effects of inpatient cardiac rehabilitation, so as non-diabetic patients showed more reduction in QT dispersion in response to inpatient cardiac rehabilitation comparing non-diabetic patients and the difference was statistically significant.