Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation in Coronary Artery Disease: DOES WEIGHT MATTER?

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To evaluate the response of patients with obesity to a cardiac rehabilitation program (CRP), compared with patients without obesity. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of 731 patients who completed phase II of a CRP after an acute coronary syndrome. The response to the CRP was assessed using the relative changes in exercise capacity (EC), resting heart rate (HR), and chronotropic index (CI). RESULTS: Only 23% of patients had obesity. Patients with obesity showed lower EC and CI at baseline and at the end of phase II of the CRP. Despite that, we reported a higher relative improvement for EC in patients with obesity (median [interquartile range], 23.9% [5.2, 40.8] vs 17.6% [8.1, 35.9], P = .043) and similar improvements in CI (10.9% [-1.4 to 34.2] vs 7.1% [-7.1 to 28.2], P = .100), compared with patients without obesity. There were no significant changes in resting HR. CONCLUSION: Regardless of their lower exercise performance at baseline, patients with obesity had a remarkably positive response to the CRP compared with patients without obesity.