A comparison of outpatient cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation patients.

PURPOSE: Although cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation are frequently considered together, differences in the two populations have not been evaluated adequately. METHODS: This study compared patients who were referred to outpatient cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation over a 1-year period at the authors' institution. Fifty-five cardiac rehabilitation patients (CR) and 47 pulmonary rehabilitation patients (PR) were studied with respect to age, gender, weight, smoking history, functional status, employment status, numbers and types of diagnoses and medications, and number of recent hospitalizations and hospital days. RESULTS: Cardiac rehabilitation patients were approximately 7 years younger, smoked less, were somewhat heavier, had a markedly better functional status, and were more likely employed than their counterparts in pulmonary rehabilitation. In addition, this group had fewer diagnoses and used fewer medications than PR patients. The number of hospitalizations and hospital days in the year preceding rehabilitation, however, were greater in CR patients than in PR patients. CONCLUSIONS: CR patients and PR patients are quite distinct with respect to demographics, functional status, comorbidity, and hospital resource consumption.