Abstract

WONG, Manuel; GARCIA, Miriam; GARCIA, Adriana  and  CARRILLO, Severita. Results of the Phase II Cardiac Rehabilitation Programat the National Center of Rehabilitation, Costa Rica. Acta méd. costarric [online]. 2011, vol.53, n.4, pp.188-193. ISSN 0001-6002.

Aim: Due to the importance of the cardiovascular disease in Costa Rica, and the lack of information about Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs in our country, the objective of this study is to determine the results of a phase II Cardiac Rehabilitation program at the National Center of Rehabilitation. Methods: retrospective study based on a review of the clinical records of patients with coronary artery disease referred for the phase II Cardiac Rehabilitation Program from March 2009 to May 2010. Of a total of 158 patients, 131 finished the phase II. We compared the results of maximal functional capacity estimated by a treadmill stress testing, and lipid profile at the beginning and the end of the 10 - 12 week program. Results: we found a significant statistical increase in the functional capacity of Metabolic Equivalents (METs) in average of 29,7% at the end of the 10-12 week program (p<0,05) estimated by a treadmill stress testing; the group that obtain the bigger increase was the “High risk” patients with 64,37% and with less increase the younger patients with 19,15%. We found a lowering in average of Total cholesterol of 4.44mg/dl (-2.9%) (p = 0.145), LDL-coholesterol of 0.96 mg/dl (-1.1%) (p=0.746), triglycerides of 19.41mg/dl (-11.2%) (p=0.016) and increase in HDL-cholesterol of 0.95mg/dl (2.5%) (p= 0.181). Conclusions: The phase II Cardiac Rehabilitation Program of the CENARE reported an increase in the functional capacity of patients with coronary artery disease in average of 29,7%, been this increase higher in the “High Risk” patients and a lesser increase in the ones with less age. We did not find significant changes in the lipid profile at the end of this training period.

Keywords : exercise; registry; prognosis; coronary disease; lifestyle.

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