COMPARISON OF STANDARD-LENGTH AND EXTENDED-LENGTH PARTICIPATION IN CARDIAC REHABILITATION ON BODY-COMPOSITION, FUNCTIONAL-CAPACITY, AND BLOOD-LIPIDS

Participation in a standard-length outpatient cardiac rehabilitation p rogram (CRP) for 3 months is known to result in positive changes in bo dy composition, functional capacity, and blood lipids in patients with coronary artery disease. However, there has been little attempt to co mpare patients who remain active in a formal CRP for an extended lengt h of >1 year with patients who exit after a standard length of 3 month s. Consequently, 50 patients underwent a series of tests including a m aximal graded exercise treadmill test, assessment of body composition, and fasting blood lipid analysis, at entry to CRP and after a follow- up period that ranged from 1 to 5 years. All patients participated in a standard multidisciplinary cardiac rehabilitation program for 3 mont hs. Twenty-five patients discontinued participation after 3 months and received no other contact from the program staff until follow-up, whe reas 25 patients remained active in the program Lentil follow-up. Afte r statistically adjusting for baseline differences between the groups, significant differences were observed between the extended- and stand ard-length groups at follow-up for body weight (177 vs 183 Ibs), perce nt fat (22% vs 24%), METS (10.5 vs 8.4), high-density lipoprotein leve l cholesterol (44 vs 39 mg/dl), total cholesterol/high-density lipopro tein ratio (5.2 vs 6.1), and triglycerides (134 vs 204 mg/dl), respect ively. No significant differences in the adjusted means were observed between the groups at followup for total cholesterol (209 vs 219 mg/dl ) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (136 vs 138 mg/dl). Data fro m this study demonstrate the efficacy of extended participation in CRP on body composition, functional capacity, and blood lipids. Greater e fforts need to be directed at retaining patients in low-cost, center-b ased maintenance programs and at extending monitoring of patients exit ing standard length CRPs.