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Cardiac Rehabilitation to Improve Physical Functioning in Refractory Angina: A Pilot Study
Cardiology, 08/09/2012
Clinical Article
Asbury EA et al. - Cardiac rehabilitation can be prescribed to improve physical ability without affecting angina frequency or severity among patients with refractory angina.
Methods- Forty-two refractory angina patients (65.1 ± 7.3 years) were randomly assigned to an 8-week Phase III cardiac rehabilitation program or symptom diary control.
- Physical assessment, Progressive Shuttle Walk test, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Health Anxiety Questionnaire, the York Angina Beliefs scale, ENRICHD Social Support Instrument and SF-36 were completed before and after intervention and at 8-week follow-up.
- Following cardiac rehabilitation, patients demonstrated improved physical ability compared with controls in Progressive Shuttle Walk level attainment (p = 0.005) and total distance covered (p = 0.015).
- Angina frequency and severity remained unchanged in both groups, with the control demonstrating worsening SF-36 pain scale (63.43 ± 22.28 vs. 55.46 ± 23.98, p = 0.025).
- Cardiac rehabilitation participants showed improved Health Anxiety Questionnaire reassurance (1.71 ± 1.72 vs. 1.14 ± 1.23, p = 0.026) and York Beliefs anginal threat perception (12.42 ± 4.58 vs. 14.35 ± 4.73, p = 0.05) after cardiac rehabilitation.
- Physical measures were broadly unaffected.