title: Heart Wellness Programme: a pilot community-based cardiac rehabilitation programme in a multiethnic society.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Community-based exercise programmes have been shown to be effective in the Western world. However, there is a dearth of literature on their effectiveness in Asia. This pilot study aims to assess the effectiveness of the Asian community-based Health Wellness Programme (HWP) in Singapore. The HWP provides community cardiac rehabilitation services.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective database analysis was conducted on cardiac rehabilitation patients who had completed the one-year wellness programme from 2010 to 2011. Patients were included in the programme if they had an underlying cardiac disease such as ischaemic heart disease and were deemed as stable by their cardiologist. Patients with New York Heart Association Class III or IV heart failure were excluded from this programme. Sociodemographic, anthropometric, clinical and laboratory data was recorded. Changes between the baseline and final measurements were analysed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Complete data from a total of 136 patients was analysed. Improvements were noted in body fat percentage (change [Δ] -1.3%, p < 0.01), distance walked (Δ 9.7 m, p = 0.01), total cholesterol (Δ -7.8 mg/dL, p = 0.03), low-density lipoprotein (Δ -7.8 mg/dL, p = 0.03) and triglyceride (Δ -17.8 mg/dL, p < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The low-to-moderate intensity HWP seems to be effective in a multiethnic community setting. To confirm the quality and effectiveness of such a programme in secondary cardiovascular prevention, more evidence from prospective controlled trials with suitable controls is needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore, Singapore.|Program in Health Services and Systems Research, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore.|Department of Pharmacy, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore.
authors.forename: Yu Heng
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Kwan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore.
authors.forename: Kheng Yong
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Ong
authors.affiliation: Heart Wellness Centre, SHF-Isetan Foundation, Singapore.
authors.forename: Hung Yong
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Tay
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Joanne Yeh
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000072038:Cardiac Rehabilitation / Q000379:methods*; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000208:ethnology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009017:Morbidity / Q000639:trends; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012846:Singapore / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Asia; community; exercise; rehabilitation