Community Cardiac Rehabilitation Program: Lessons Learned for Long-Term Outcomes.
Cheryl Monturo, Carol Smith, William M Bannon and 1 others
PMID 41342289WHAT IT FOUND
Six months after cardiac rehabilitation, patients continued to improve walking distance and kept waist size down, but blood pressure, weight, BMI, depression, physical activity and medication adherence worsened.
Diet and smoking gains held.
Key findings
01At follow-up, walking distance improved and waist circumference stayed reduced, but blood pressure, weight, BMI and depression scores increased.
02Diet and smoking gains were maintained, while physical activity and medication habits decreased.
03Most quality-of-life improvements persisted, but perceived change in health reversed to a more negative score.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Participants were recruited by convenience, not random assignment, and there was no comparison group, so changes cannot be attributed only to cardiac rehabilitation. 164 invited patients refused, did not attend or did not respond, raising self-selection bias. The sample was mostly white, male and highly educated, so results may not apply broadly. Follow-up was about 6 months after discharge, not longer-term. Patients were referred to different cardiologists with varying timelines and not to a standard phase III program, so post-discharge support was not uniform. Qualitative data came from an email survey rather than planned focus groups, limiting depth.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the maintained walking distance and diet as proof that patients can sustain all cardiac rehabilitation gains without structured follow-up. Blood pressure, weight, BMI, depression, physical activity and medication adherence worsened at follow-up, and the study followed the same patients over time rather than comparing them with a control group.