Right ventricular dysfunction is associated with exercise intolerance and poor prognosis in ischemic heart disease.

Right ventricular (RV) function is a prognostic factor in ischemic heart disease (IHD) patients, although its correlations with exercise capacity and cardiac rehabilitation (CR) efficacy are unknown. We aimed to clarify how RV function was associated with exercise tolerance and efficacy of phase II CR in IHD patients. We retrospectively analyzed 301 consecutive IHD patients who underwent phase II CR. We defined RV dysfunction using a combination of RV fractional area change < 35%, tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion < 1.6 cm, and systolic velocity < 10 cm/s. Exercise capacity was assessed using cardiopulmonary testing. The relation between RV function and exercise capacity was analyzed. The all-cause death and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) were evaluated by survival curve. The RV dysfunction group (n = 121) showed impaired left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function before CR contrary to the normal RV function group (n = 180). The presence of RV dysfunction significantly reduced %AT by 4% and %Peak[Formula: see text] by 9% before CR, but increases the degree of improvement in %Peak[Formula: see text] with CR, independent of LV systolic and diastolic function. Univariate analysis demonstrated that previous coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) was negatively associated with all-cause deaths and MACE. Adjusted for previous CABG, poor prognosis correlated with coexisting LV and RV dysfunction (hazard ratio [HR] 3.91, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.13-13.53, P = 0.03) and RV dysfunction alone (HR 3.08, 95% CI 1.01-9.37, P = 0.05). In IHD patients, RV dysfunction is associated with exercise intolerance before CR and increased MACE risk, independent of LV function. The CR was effective in patients with RV dysfunction.

Utility of Cardiac Rehabilitation for Long-Term Outcomes in Patients with Hospital-Acquired Functional Decline after Cardiac Surgery: A Retrospective Study.

Hospital-acquired functional decline is an important outcome that affects the long-term prognosis of patients after cardiac surgery. Phase II cardiac rehabilitation (CR) for outpatients is expected to improve prognosis; however, this is not clear in patients with hospital-acquired functional decline after cardiac surgery. Therefore, this study evaluated whether phase II CR improved the long-term prognosis of patients with hospital-acquired functional decline after cardiac surgery. This single-center, retrospective observational study included 2371 patients who required cardiac surgery. Hospital-acquired functional decline occurred in 377 patients (15.9%) after cardiac surgery. The mean follow-up period was 1219 ± 682 days in all patients, and there were 221 (9.3%) cases with major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) after discharge during the follow-up period. The Kaplan-Meier survival curves indicated that hospital-acquired functional decline and non-phase II CR was associated with a higher incidence of MACE than other groups (log-rank, p < 0.001), additionally exhibiting prognosticating MACE in multivariate Cox regression analysis (HR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.01-2.50; p = 0.047). Hospital-acquired functional decline after cardiac surgery and non-phase II CR were risk factors for MACE. The participation in phase II CR in patients with hospital-acquired functional decline after cardiac surgery could reduce the risk of MACE.

Impact of chronic kidney disease and anemia on physical function in patients with chronic heart failure.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to confirm the effects of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and anemia on physical function and to clarify whether the interaction between CKD and anemia has an additive effect. DESIGN: Eligible subjects were chronic heart failure (HF) patients who were discharged between March 2007 and August 2009. A total of 102 chronic HF patients (33% females; mean age: 68 ± 14 years) were enrolled in the present study. CKD was defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate of <60 ml/min/1.73 m(2), and anemia was defined as a hemoglobin level of <12 g/dl in males and of <11 g/dl in females. The Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) was used to assess physical function. RESULTS: The adjusted mean SPPB score was lower in patients with both CKD and anemia than in those with neither of the diseases or with either disease alone (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study found that CKD and anemia are independently associated with reduced physical function.