The Effects of 8 Weeks of Exercise Cardiac Rehabilitation on Quality of Life, Anxiety, Depression and Exercise Capacity in High Risk Cardiac Patients

Cardiovascular diseases are one of the leading reasons of mortality and morbidity in the world. Although the positive effects of cardiac rehabilitation in low risk cardiac patients have been proved, there is a lack of scientific evidence regarding the benefits of this program in high risk cardiac patients especially in Iran. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the physiological and mental effects of CR program on high risk cardiac patients for the first time in Iran. In this study, 20 high risk cardiac patients (mean age 63.10±4.77 yr) who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) 6-8 weeks ago and returned to perform phase 3 rehabilitation programs participated in 8 weeks of CR program. In addition to the exercise test, patients filled out the Quality of Life (QoL) questionnaire and Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HADs). Findings indicated that exercise capacity (P<0.001) drastically improved after CR program while patient's body mass index decreased at the end of the program (P˂0.006). The frequency percentage of anxiety and depression was 100% and 95% respectively before the CR program which drastically decreased to 75% and 55% at (P<0.001) and (P<0.001) respectively. The findings of this study showed the positive effects of CR program on quality of life, anxiety, depression and exercise capacity in high risk cardiac patients after CABG during 8 weeks. It is recommended that high risk cardiac patients use CR program in order to benefit its positive effects.