Cardiac rehabilitation in acute myocardial infarction patients after percutaneous coronary intervention: A community-based study

BACKGROUND: Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is one of the leading causes of death and physical disability worldwide. However, the development of community- based cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in AMI patients is hysteretic. Here, we aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of CR applied in the community in AMI patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). METHODS: A total of 130 ST-segment elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients after PCI were randomly divided into 2 groups in the community, rehabilitation group (n = 65) and control group (n = 65). Cardiac function, a 6-minute walk distance, exercise time and steps, cardiovascular risk factors were monitored respectively and compared before and after the intervention of 2 groups. The software of EpiData 3.1 was used to input research data and SPSS16.0 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: After a planned rehabilitation intervention, the rehabilitation group showed better results than the control group. The rehabilitation group had a significant improvement in recurrence angina and readmission (P < .01). Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of rehabilitation group showed improvement in phase II (t = 4.963, P < .01) and phase III (t = 11.802, P < .01), and the New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification was recovered within class II. There was a significant difference compared with before (Z = 7.238, P < .01). Six minutes walking distance, aerobic exercise time, and steps all achieved rehabilitation requirements in rehabilitation group in phase II and III, there existed distinct variation between 2 phases. Rehabilitation group had a better result in cardiovascular risk factors than control group (P < .05). CONCLUSION: Community-based CR after PCI through simple but safe exercise methods can improve the AMI patient's living quality, which includes increasing cardiac ejection fraction, exercise tolerance, and physical status. It must be emphasized that the good result should be established by the foundation of close cooperation between cardiologists and general practitioners, also the importance of cooperation of patients and their families should not be ignored. The rehabilitation program we used is feasible, safe, and effective.