Is modern cardiac rehabilitation still effective?

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Is modern cardiac rehabilitation still effective? the outcomes of attenders versus non-attenders

• IRAS ID

  194531

• Contact name

  Patrick Doherty

• Contact email

  patrick.doherty@york.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of York

• Duration of Study in the UK

  2 years, 0 months, 0 days

• Research summary

  Cardiovascular diseases, such as a heart attack are common; responsible for an estimated 17.5 million deaths globally in 2012 (1). Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is offered to patients with these conditions to restore optimal health and reduce early death (2-4). The benefits of CR were proven historically (3), however in recent years the positive effects of CR have been questioned following a new study of CR, which found no effect (5). Issues in the running of this study have partially discredited the findings however, an important question remains; do modern CR services still benefit patients.

  To answer this question this project will access the health records of patients who have experienced a heart attack during the five previous years. CR attenders will then be compared to non-attenders to see if benefits are observed in patients attending CR and if they are greater than non-attenders.

  A sub study will further explore in greater detail the influence of comorbidity on patient survival and major adverse cardiac events such as hospital re-admission, re-occurrence of heart attack.

  Goals of research:
  • To determine patient characteristics in CR attenders and non-attenders
  • To determine rates of death, hospital re-admission and re-occurrence of heart attack and the associated costs over a 5 year period in CR attenders and non-attenders
  • To investigate the role of comorbidity on death, hospital re-admission and re-occurrence of heart attack

  Benefits of research:
  This project will be the most thorough UK patient based investigation into modern CR and its effect on death, hospital re-admission and re-occurrence of heart attack. The findings will provide clear relevant information on whether modern CR still delivers patient benefits to inform NHS practices.

• REC name

  West Midlands - Edgbaston Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  15/WM/0481

• Date of REC Opinion

  17 Dec 2015

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion