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 .
Training after myocardial infarction: lack of long-term effects on physical capacity and psychological variables.
This study evaluated long-term effects of 12 weeks of supervised training , of at least 45 minutes duration with two sessions per week , on physical performance and  psychological well-being after myocardial infa rct ion ( MI ) . Sixty-nine patients were r and omized to either an exercise or a nonexercise group .  Maximum exercise capacity 6 weeks post-MI was inversely related to the acute peak aspartate aminotransferase values in serum , as an index of infa rct size . One year post-MI , the increase in level of fitness ( 10 % ) in the training group did not significantly exceed ( p = .10 ) that of the controls ( 2 % ) . No intergroup differences were registered in self-rated psychological well-being and physical scores or in the return to work rate . In the training group , but not in the controls , the change in perceived dyspnoea at leisure-time activities was positively related to the objective ly measured peak exercise capacity . We conclude that after MI only marginal improvements in physical performance are achieved 6 months after training is finished , with no long-term psychological benefits apparent versus a usual care program . The adaptive implication s of supervised conventional exercise programs post-MI are therefore question ed
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 .