Conclusions Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation is effective at reducing important clinical outcomes in patients with coronary heart disease .
While our analysis was constrained by the quality of included trials and missing information about intervention components , there appears to be little differential effect of variations in exercise intervention , particularly on mortality outcomes .
Background While the clinical benefits of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation are well established , there is extensive variation in the interventions used within these trials .
It is unknown whether variations in individual components of these exercise interventions provide different relative contributions to overall clinical outcomes .
This study aims to systematic ally examine the relationship between individual components of the exercise intervention in cardiac rehabilitation ( such as intensity and frequency ) and clinical outcomes for people with coronary heart disease .
REDUCTION IN SUDDEN DEATHS BY A MULTIFACTORIAL INTERVENTION PROGRAMME AFTER ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION
375 consecutive patients below 65 years who had an acute myocardial infa rct ion ( AMI ) took part in a r and omised rehabilitation and secondary prevention trial ( part of a W.H.O.-coordinated project ) design ed to study the effects of a multifactorial intervention programme on morbidity , mortality , return to work , & c. After three years ' follow-up the cumulative coronary mortality was significantly smaller in the intervention group than in the controls ( 18.6 % versus 29.4 % , p = 0.02 ) . This difference was mainly due to a reduction of sudden deaths in the intervention group ( 5.8 % versus 14.4 % , p less than 0.01 ) . The reduction was greatest during the first six months after AMI . 18.1 % in the intervention group and 11.2 % in the controls ( p less than 0.10 ) presented with non-fatal reinfa rct ions . The number of patients with new Q-QS findings at the end of the three years was , however , almost the same in both groups . The results suggest that organised aftercare during the first six months after AMI with special emphasis on optimum medical control and health education contributes significantly to a reduction in the number of sudden deaths
Conclusions Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation is effective at reducing important clinical outcomes in patients with coronary heart disease .
While our analysis was constrained by the quality of included trials and missing information about intervention components , there appears to be little differential effect of variations in exercise intervention , particularly on mortality outcomes .
Background While the clinical benefits of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation are well established , there is extensive variation in the interventions used within these trials .
It is unknown whether variations in individual components of these exercise interventions provide different relative contributions to overall clinical outcomes .
This study aims to systematic ally examine the relationship between individual components of the exercise intervention in cardiac rehabilitation ( such as intensity and frequency ) and clinical outcomes for people with coronary heart disease .