Aim: Exercise capacity after training has been reported to improve after cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of different sessions of an exercise-based CR program on exercise capacity in CAD patients after elective percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA).
Methods: In a university hospital, 440 patients who were enrolled in an exercise-based CR program (phase 2) after elective PTCA, were retrospectively evaluated. Two hundred-eighty-six subjects were categorized based on the completion of CR sessions (group A, B and C completing 5, 10 and 24 sessions, respectively). The main outcome measures were exercise training energy expenditure (ETEE) and treadmill velocity of first and last session of CR. Pearson's chi(2) test, Kruskall-Wallis test, paired Student's t test and multivariate analysis were used.
Results: All patients showed significant improvements in ETEE and treadmill velocity from baseline to follow-up sessions. A significant group effect on exercise parameters was detected between all the three CR groups (P<0.0001). On follow-up, the ETEE and treadmill velocity had statistically significant correlation with the number of completed sessions, age and gender (P<0.001).
Conclusion: The present study indicated that improvement in exercise capacity occurs in both gender from baseline to the last session, regardless of clinical characteristics of patients with PTCA. When controlled for other factors, calorie expenditure and treadmill velocity was independently associated with the number of completed sessions, age and gender.