title: Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation improves hemodynamic responses after coronary artery bypass graft surgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cardiovascular disorders are an important public health problem worldwide. They are also the leading cause of mortality and morbidity. Therefore, American Heart Association proposed cardiac rehabilitation program as an essential part of care for cardiac patients to improve functional capacity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation program on functional status and some hemodynamic responses in patients after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty two patients were selected for this study. All patients underwent cardiac surgery two months before admission. They were allocated to two groups. While the rehabilitation group (n =17, mean age: 62 ± 12 years) completed the cardiac rehabilitation program for two months, the reference group (n = 15, mean age: 58.5 ± 12.5 years) did not have any supervised physical activity during this period. Cardiac rehabilitation program consisted of exercise, nutritional, psychological consultation and risk factor management. At the beginning of the study, functional capacity of patients was evaluated by exercise test, 6-minute walking test and echocardiography. Functional capacity was evaluated for a second time after two months of cardiac rehabilitation. Data were analyzed by SPSS(15). For comparing the mean of outcomes, Mann-Whitney test and Wilcoxon signed ranks test were used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  As a result of cardiac rehabilitation, a significant improvement was observed in the distance walked in the rehabilitation group (P < 0.01) compared to the reference group (P = 0.33). It also caused a significant development in hemodynamic responses to exercise such as resting and maximum systolic and diastolic blood pressure, resting and maximum heart rate, ejection fraction and rate pressure product.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cardiac rehabilitation significantly improves functional capacity and some hemodynamic responses post coronary artery bypass grafting. Therefore, patients need to be referred to rehabilitation units.
authors.affiliation: MSc, Department of Physical Educational and Sport Sciences, Khorasgan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh Esteki
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Ghashghaei
authors.forename: Masoumeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sadeghi
authors.forename: Seyed Mohammad
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Marandi
authors.forename: Samira Esteki
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Ghashghaei