Effects of cardiac rehabilitation on quality of life and exercise capacity in patients with coronary artery disease – do women benefit equally?

Abstract

Introduction/Objective This paper aimed to examine whether women and men benefit equally from comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in terms of quality of life (QOL), and exercise tolerance in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).

Methods The study involved 1603 CAD patients, 1231 (76.8%) men and 372 (23.2%) women, who were referred to a three-week CR program. All patients were tested for physical strain at the beginning and at the end of CR. The QOL was assessed at the beginning and at the end of CR by validated questionnaire Short-Form 36.

Results Improvements in physical strain tolerance were more pronounced in women compared to men (18.46% vs. 14.23% for level, and 19.1% vs. 16.34% for the duration of the test). Also, CR has led to the improvement of the QOL in both men and women. However, women had greater improvement than men in all parameters - physical functioning: 26.85% vs. 10.12%, limitations due to physical health: 76.39% vs. 28.11%, limitations due to+ emotional problems: 23.12% vs. 21.07%, energy/fatigue: 13.33% vs. 6.77%, emotional well-being: 11.19% vs. 6.77%, social functioning 14.48% vs. 4.96%, body pain 15.76% vs. 10.16%, general health 10.53% vs. 7.38%, and health change 24.06% vs. 12.69%.

Conclusion Women generally less participate in CR than men. Results indicated that CR improves exercise capacity and QOL in CAD patients, in both men and women. However, these positive changes were more pronounced in women. This is why CR needs improvement in the referral and participation of women.

Keywords: coronary artery disease; cardiac rehabilitation; quality of life; physical strain tolerance; gender differences