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 .
Early programmes of high and low intensity exercise and quality of life after acute myocardial infarction.
OBJECTIVE --To determine whether a group programme of light exercise could improve quality of life in patients after acute myocardial infa rct ion to the same extent as a high intensity exercise training programme . SETTING --Australian teaching hospital . PATIENTS --224 men from a consecutive series of 339 men under 70 admitted to a coronary care unit with transmural acute myocardial infa rct ion . INTERVENTION-- Patients were r and omly allocated in hospital to a group programme lasting eight weeks of either high intensity exercise training or light exercise . MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES --Physical working capacity based on metabolic equivalents achieved from treadmill exercise tests at entry , after 11 weeks , and after one year . Quality of life based on self report scores of anxiety , depression , denial , and wellbeing and interview assessment s of activities and psychosocial adjustment at entry , after four months , and after one year . RESULTS --The two groups were well matched at entry . At 11 weeks the mean results of treadmill testing were 10.7 ( 95 % confidence interval 10.20 to 11.20 ) metabolic equivalents for exercise training and 9.7 ( 9.26 to 10.14 ) for light exercise ( t = 2.85 , df = 181 , p = 0.005 ) . Apart from this small temporary benefit in mean physical working capacity , there were no significant differences between groups . Improvement in occupational adjustment score from baseline to four months was greater after exercise training than after light exercise , but at one year repeated measures analysis of variance showed no significant effects of treatment or interaction between treatment and time point . CONCLUSION --The effects on quality of life of a low cost programme of light exercise are similar to those obtained from a high intensity exercise training programme
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 .