Cardiac rehabilitation after cardiac surgery is limited by gender and length of hospitalisation.
BACKGROUND
Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is recommended after cardiac surgery. Secondary prevention through exercise training is one of the best scientifically-proven ways of decreasing mortality and enhancing quality of life in cardiovascular disorders. Studies into the use of CR in different groups of patients after cardiac surgery are limited.


OBJECTIVE
To find the factors determining the reasons for the lack of CR in cardiac surgery patients.


METHODS
The study group consisted of 82 patients (mean age 58.6 years, 80.7% male) in stable II/III NYHA class, who had undergone coronary artery bypass graft surgery, valvular surgery, or both. The following were analysed: age, gender, body mass index, basic laboratory results such as serum lipids level, cholesterol ratio LDL/HDL, creatinine and glucose levels, results of electrocardiography, echocardiography and coronary arteriography, presence of hypertension, diabetes, coronary artery disease, renal failure, previous stroke, obliteration of peripheral arteries, EuroSCORE and length of hospitalisation. Patients were divided into two groups: those referred for CR (n = 46, the CR group) and those referred for CR but who did not receive it (n = 36, non-CR group).


RESULTS
From multiple logistic regression analysis with backward stepwise, only female gender (p = 0.0208, OR = 0.07) and length of hospitalisation (p = 0.0198, OR = 1.17) were significant for non-CR patients.


CONCLUSIONS
We found a lower rate of use of CR after cardiac surgery in those patients hospitalised for longer periods, and in women.
Department of Cardiac Surgery, Medical University of Lodz, Poland. bjegier@op.pl
Bogdan
B
Jegier
Inga
I
Pietka
Karolina
K
Wojtczak-Soska
Ryszard
R
Jaszewski
Małgorzata
M
Lelonek
D000368:Aged; D058385:Cardiac Valve Annuloplasty / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000534:rehabilitation* / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome