Cardiac Rehabilitation During Quarantine in COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges for Center-Based Programs.
Florent Besnier, Mathieu Gayda, Anil Nigam and 2 others
PMID 32599060WHAT IT FOUND
Home-based cardiac rehabilitation appears as effective as center-based care for improving fitness and safety, and may be more sustainable.
During quarantine, 15 minutes of daily individualized exercise with remote coaching can help maintain physical function in cardiac patients.
Key findings
01Telerehabilitation and home-based cardiac rehabilitation are suggested to be as effective as center-based programs for improving peak oxygen consumption, safe, and less costly.
02In patients with chronic heart failure, a home-based Nordic walking program with remote monitoring improved peak oxygen consumption and depression scores, whereas usual care only improved depression scores.
03Fifteen minutes of daily individualized home exercise may be enough to fight muscle deconditioning and limit the harmful effects of strict confinement.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
This is a narrative review, not a systematic review or meta-analysis, so the selection of studies may be biased. Long-term follow-up data for many telemedicine interventions are lacking. Results are mixed; some large trials did not show superiority of telerehabilitation over usual care for hard endpoints like mortality. Digital tools may exclude older or less technologically literate patients, creating accessibility barriers.
Declared interests
The paper is supported by non-U.S. government funding. No specific commercial conflicts of interest are declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that all home-based or telerehabilitation interventions are superior to usual care. Some large trials showed no benefit over usual care for mortality or rehospitalization, and effectiveness depends heavily on ongoing coaching and patient adherence.