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Functional Improvement After Outpatient Cardiac Rehabilitation in Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients is Not Related to Improvement in Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction

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Abstract

Introduction

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) improves the functional capacity and the prognosis of patients with coronary artery disease.

Aim

Our study was aimed at assessing the relationship between functional improvement (evaluated with 6-min Walk Test—6MWT) and the improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) after CR.

Methods

We collected data from 249 patients (age 66.79 ± 11.06 years; males 81.52%) with a recent history of Acute Coronary Syndrome that performed CR. The functional improvement after CR was expressed as the Δ between distance covered at the final versus the initial 6-min Walking Test (6-MWT), while LVEF was calculated with transthoracic echocardiogram at the beginning and at the end of the CR.

Results

Patients were divided accordingly to their pre-rehab LVEF (≥ 55% vs < 55%). With superimposable age and baseline 6MWT distance covered (434.58 vs 405.12 m, p = 0.08), the latter group presented higher Δ meter values at 6MWT (167.93 vs 193.97 m, p = 0.018). However, no statistically significant positive correlation between Δ meters and Δ LVEF was found. Moreover, linear regression analyses found that nor baseline LVEF nor Δ LVEF were significant determinants of Δ meters when considering the whole group, with age, basal 6MWT and peak CK-MB as additional covariates in the model.

Conclusion

Although it could be expected that an increase in LVEF is related to the functional improvement after CR, no significant correlation was found in our population.

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Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiac Rehabilitation, Cardiology 4, Niguarda Hospital, Piazza Ospedale Maggiore 3, 20159, Milan, Italy

    A. Peretti, Alessandro Maloberti, L. Garatti, M. Palazzini, N. Triglione, L. Occhi, S. Sioli, A. Moreo, C. Giannattasio & S. Riccobono

  2. School of Medicine and Surgery, Milano-Bicocca University, Milan, Italy

    A. Peretti, Alessandro Maloberti, L. Garatti, M. Palazzini, N. Triglione, L. Occhi, J. W. Sun & C. Giannattasio

  3. Rehabilitative Medicine and Neuro-Rehabilitation, Niguarda Hospital, Milan, Italy

    G. Beretta

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  1. A. Peretti
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  2. Alessandro Maloberti
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  3. L. Garatti
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  4. M. Palazzini
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  7. S. Sioli
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  9. A. Moreo
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  10. G. Beretta
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  11. C. Giannattasio
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  12. S. Riccobono
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alessandro Maloberti.

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Conflict of interest

All the authors declares that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Institution involved.

Informed consent

Informed consent was not obtained from all participants included in the study because of it's retrospective design.

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Peretti, A., Maloberti, A., Garatti, L. et al. Functional Improvement After Outpatient Cardiac Rehabilitation in Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients is Not Related to Improvement in Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction. High Blood Press Cardiovasc Prev 27, 225–230 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40292-020-00374-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40292-020-00374-1

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