Aim: The purpose of this study was to access and compare the prognostic effects of different types of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in patients with chronic coronary artery disease.
Methods: One hundred fifty-two patients were retrospectively divided into 4 groups according to their adherence to physical activity recommendations. Patients in groups 1 and 2 participated in the guided 3-month exercise programme. Patients in group 1 then continued with individual exercise training, while patients in the group 2 stopped exercising after finishing the guide exercise programme. Patients in group 3 participated only in individual exercise training throughout the whole follow-up period, and patients in group 4 declined all exercise recommendations and did not exercise. The prognostic outcome of different types of cardiac rehabilitation was compared among the groups. In addition, patients who participated in individual exercise training according to recommendations (cohort IT+) were compared with patients who declined these activities (cohort IT-).
Results: During a median follow-up of 94 months, 33 deaths occurred: 17 cardiovascular and 16 non-cardiac deaths. A Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrated significantly better survival rates for patients who followed a long-term aerobic exercise training (IT+) than for those who did not participate or who had only a short-term exercise programme (IT-) (P = 0.009).
Conclusion: In our study, long-term exercise training had a higher impact on patient survival than short-term guided CR.