Introduction: Little is known about which benefits achieved during cardiac rehabilitation (CR) are maintained 1 year after CR discharge and whether there are any gender-specific differences.
Methods: One-year follow-up data were available in 244/533 (46%; mean age 62 +/- 11 years, 30% women, 30% nonwhite) patients with coronary artery disease discharged from CR between 1996 and 2005. We compared changes in clinical, behavioral, and health status variables from baseline to CR completion, CR completion to 1-year follow-up, and baseline to 1-year follow-up for the group overall and separately for men and women.
Results: At CR completion, statistically significant improvements from baseline were seen in all measures except for high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and smoking. Compared with baseline, these improvements were sustained at 1 year, albeit with some attrition compared with the benefits achieved at CR completion. Long-term benefits were generally similar in women and men, although women appeared to have better long-term retention and implementation of dietary advice.
Conclusion: Improvements in most measures attained during CR were still Vera evident at 1 year in both men and women. Whether reinforcement CR Cardiovascular sessions or other strategies to enhance long-term adherence to lifestyle changes could attenuate the observed attrition in benefits needs further study. Gender-specific strategies may best address the needs of men and women.