Changes in clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients admitted to inpatient cardiac rehabilitation

Aims: Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) have proven to be effective and beneficial in middle-aged and older patients. However, solid data in large cohorts of elderly individuals are yet to be explored. This retrospective study investigated the general characteristics, outcomes, and the level of re-sponse of patients referred to CR over 13 consecutive years. Methods: We reviewed the medical records of patients admitted to Villa Pineta Rehabilitation Hospital for exercise-based CR from 2006 to 2018. Patients’ baseline characteristics and changes following CR in upper limb weight-lifting test (ULW), 30-second sit-to-stand test (30STS), and the 6-minute walking test (6MWT) with associated Borg-related dyspnea (D) and fatigue (F) were collected. We also calculated the number of individuals reaching the minimal clinically relevant change (MCRC) following CR for each outcome. Results: 1551 patients (70.2 ± 9.7 years, 66% men) with complete data set were in-cluded in the analysis. Coronary artery bypass graft and cardiac valve replacement surgery were the most frequent surgical procedures leading to CR referral (41.1% and 35.8%, respectively). The patients’ age (p = 0.03), number of total comorbidities (p < 0.0001), and post-surgical complica-tions (p = 0.02) significantly increased over time. In contrast, the average absolute changes in ULW, 30STS and 6MWT with associated D and F, and the proportion of patients reaching the re-spective MCRC, remained constant over the same period. Conclusion: Patients admitted to exer-cise-based CR were older and had more comorbidities and complications over time. Outcomes, however, were not influenced in terms of absolute change nor clinically meaningful response.