WOMENS PATTERNS OF EXERCISE FOLLOWING CARDIAC REHABILITATION

Background: Studies of long-term exercise maintenance after an acute c ardiac event have been conducted almost exclusively with men, and the findings cannot be generalized to women. Objectives: The aim of this s tudy was to identify women's exercise patterns and adherence to recomm ended exercise maintenance after a cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program . Method: Forty women who had a myocardial infarction or had undergone coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery were recruited through co nvenience sampling immediately after completion of a phase II CR progr am. Exercise frequency, duration, and intensity were measured using wr ist-watch heart rate (HR) monitors during exercise for 3 months. Resul ts: Results indicated that 12 of 40 (30%) women exercised five times o r fewer during the 9-month study period. Only 11 women (27.5%) exercis ed three or more times per week. Women exercised an average of 5.2 ses sions within their target HR during the entire study period. Maintenan ce of exercise dropped consistently during the course of the study. Al though 83% of the participating women started exercising during the fi rst month, after 1 month one third of the participants had stopped exe rcising. During the last week of the study, only 50% of the women were still exercising. Conclusions: These findings indicate the women are exercising well below the recommended guidelines for exercise after ac ute cardiac events.