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Safety of Exercise Training for Cardiac Patients
Results of the French Registry of Complications During Cardiac Rehabilitation
Bruno Pavy, MD;
Marie Christine Iliou, MD;
Philippe Meurin, MD;
Jean-Yves Tabet, MD;
Sonia Corone, MD; for the Functional Evaluation and Cardiac Rehabilitation Working Group of the French Society of Cardiology
Arch Intern Med. 2006;166:2329-2334.
Background Cardiac rehabilitation is widely recognized as a medical management procedure that reduces mortality, but the cardiovascular safety of exercise training has not been clearly established. Published data are retrospective or outdated, as patient management has substantially progressed in recent years. The aim of this prospective registry was to determine the current complication rate during exercise performed in the course of cardiac rehabilitation.
Methods This study was conducted by the Functional Evaluation and Cardiac Rehabilitation Working Group of the French Society of Cardiology. During a 1-year period, 65 cardiac rehabilitation centers reported that serious events had occurred during or 1 hour after an exercise stress test or a training session. Severe cardiovascular events were validated by a scientific committee.
Results A total of 25 420 patients (78% men; mean age, 61.3 years) were included in the study. Initial indications for cardiac rehabilitation were post–cardiac surgery (coronary bypass, 34.3%; valvular surgery, 18.4%); recent percutaneous coronary intervention (21.6%); and other coronary (13.2%) and noncoronary (12.5%) conditions. The study population underwent 42 419 exercise stress tests and 743 471 patient-hours of exercise training. Twenty severe cardiac events were reported: 5 were related to exercise testing and 15 were related to exercise training. The event rate was 1 per 8484 exercise stress tests and 1 per 49 565 patient-hours of exercise training; the cardiac arrest rate was 1.3 per million patient-hours of exercise. Neither fatal complications nor emergency defibrillations were reported.
Conclusion The frequency of major cardiovascular complications during supervised exercise training in France is quite low.
Author Affiliations: Service de Réadaptation Cardiaque, Centre Hospitalier, Machecoul (Dr Pavy), Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris, Hôpital Broussais–Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, Service de Réadaptation Cardiaque, Paris (Dr Iliou), Centre de Réadaptation Cardiaque de la Brie, Villeneuve Saint Denis (Drs Meurin and Tabet), and Service de Réadaptation Cardiaque, Centre Médical Bligny, Briis Sous Forges (Dr Corone), France.
Group Information: A list of the Functional Evaluation and Cardiac Rehabilitation Working Group of the French Society of Cardiology members appears at http://www.cardio-sfc.org.
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES
Current Status of Cardiac Rehabilitation
Wenger
J Am Coll Cardiol 2008;51:1619-1631.
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