Does service timing matter for psychological outcomes in cardiac rehabilitation? Insights from the National Audit of Cardiac Rehabilitation

2023 TAMIS/TSOC/TACVPR Consensus Statement for Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction Rehabilitation

Cardiac rehabilitation is a comprehensive intervention recommended in international and Taiwanese guidelines for patients with acute myocardial infarction. Evidence supports that cardiac rehabilitation improves the health-related quality of life, enhances exercise capacity, reduces readmission rates, and promotes survival in patients with cardiovascular disease. The cardiac rehabilitation team is comprehensive and multidisciplinary. The inpatient, outpatient, and maintenance phases are included in cardiac rehabilitation. All patients admitted with acute myocardial infarction should be referred to the rehabilitation department as soon as clinically feasible. Pre-exercise evaluation, including exercise testing, helps physicians identify the risks of cardiac rehabilitation and organize appropriate exercise prescriptions. Therefore, the Taiwan Myocardial Infarction Society (TAMIS), Taiwan Society of Cardiology (TSOC), and Taiwan Academy of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (TACVPR) address this consensus statement to assist healthcare practitioners in performing cardiac rehabilitation in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Risk of incident mental disorders in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: a nationwide propensity-matched study

AIMS

We sought to determine the risk of mental disorders in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) compared with those without HCM.

METHODS AND RESULTS

This is a retrospective propensity score-matched cohort study using nationwide population-based data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service. Overall, 4046 patients with HCM and 12138 matched individuals were followed up until the first diagnosis of mental disorders or the end of the follow up. The primary outcome was a composite of incident mood, anxiety, stress-related, or somatoform disorders. Secondary outcomes included two components of the primary outcome (i.e. mood disorders and anxiety/stress-related/somatoform disorders). During a median follow-up period of 4.1 years, the incidence rate of the primary outcome was 54.4 and 31.5/1000 person-years among the HCM and control groups, respectively, resulting in a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.719 (95% confidence interval: 1.589-1.860). Within the first month after HCM diagnosis, the HR for the primary outcome was 3.074 (2.096-4.508). Beyond 1 month, the HRs decreased, ranging from 2.281 (1.952-2.665) during 1-12 months, to 2.087 (1.831-2.380) during 12-36 months and 1.258 (1.090-1.452) after 36 months of follow up. Similar results were observed for the secondary outcomes. In sensitivity analysis, the risk of the specific categories of mental disorders, including single or recurrent depressive episodes and anxiety disorders, was also higher in patients with HCM than matched controls.

CONCLUSION

HCM was significantly associated with the risk of incident mental disorders, particularly within 1 year after HCM diagnosis, underscoring the importance of screening mental health problems, including mood and anxiety disorders, in patients with HCM.

Patient Preferences for Cardiac Rehabilitation - A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

Although a large number of studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation(CR), patient preferences for CR remain unclear. Knowing patient preferences may contribute to increasing patient participation and adherence, thus improving patient prognosis.

METHODS

A systematic search was carried out using electronic databases and manual reference checks from inception until 15th June 2022. Quantitative studies, qualitative studies and mixed methods studies assessing patient preferences for CR were included. Two researchers independently conducted study selectionand data extraction. CR preferences were divided into three categories: CR settings, CR components, and CR contents. A narrative synthesis was applied to integrate the results of the included studies. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) was used to assess the quality of included studies.

RESULTS

Ultimately, 17 publications were included in this study. Regarding CR settings, most patients preferred the hospital to home, some considered both, and a few were willing to accept the local CR club as an alternative setting to the hospital. For CR components, regardless of age and gender, patients considered exercise training and nutrition counseling to be the most important and smoking cessation to be the least important. In exercise intervention of CR contents, progress discussion and encouragement were rated as most critical, and non-conflicting with other activities was rated as least critical. In psychological intervention of CR contents, most patients were willing to accept psychological intervention, and a few patients wanted to heal the trauma with the passage of time.

CONCLUSION

This systematic review provides important insights into patient preferences for CR, clarifying patient preferences for CR settings, components, and contents, along with possible influencing factors. Patient preferences may change due to the COVID-19 epidemic, and there is still a need to focus on patient preferences for CR and conduct more relevant primary research to validate the findings of this paper in the future.

Meta-Analysis of Antidepressant Pharmacotherapy in Patients Eligible for Cardiac Rehabilitation: ANTIDEPRESSANT AMBIVALENCE

PURPOSE

Many patients exhibit clinically significant depression upon enrollment in cardiac rehabilitation (CR). Antidepressants are a first-line treatment option for depression, but the effectiveness of antidepressants in patients with heart disease is mixed. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the efficacy of antidepressants for depression in patients eligible for CR.

METHODS

A meta-analysis was conducted including randomized controlled trials of antidepressants from January 1990 to September 2021 that compared antidepressants with placebo. Random-effects models were used between group effect sizes (Hedges' g ).

RESULTS

A total of 13 trials with predominately White (68% ± 12; n =7) male (70% ± 11) samples averaging 61 ± 5 yr compared antidepressants (1128 participants) with placebo (1079 participants). Antidepressants reduced depressive symptoms ( g = 0.17: 95% CI, 0.08-0.27), but the effect was small. Heterogeneity among study effects was low ( I2 = 6.42) and nonsignificant ( Q = 10.75, P = .46), although patients with heart failure ( gHF = 0.05: 95% CI, -0.09 to 0.18) demonstrated smaller effects compared with patients with other cardiovascular disease conditions (g non-HF = 0.22: 95% CI, 0.11-0.32) ( QB [1] = 3.97; P < .05). No study reported safety concerns associated with antidepressants.

SUMMARY

The effect size of antidepressant pharmacotherapy in this population is small. No trials reported on the combined effects of exercise and pharmacotherapy. If the patient is not suicidal, CR staff may consider patient preference and refer patients for additional treatment as necessary.

The role of cardiac rehabilitation in improving cardiovascular outcomes

Cardiac rehabilitation is a complex intervention that seeks to improve the functional capacity, wellbeing and health-related quality of life of patients with heart disease. A substantive evidence base supports cardiac rehabilitation as a clinically effective and cost-effective intervention for patients with acute coronary syndrome or heart failure with reduced ejection fraction and after coronary revascularization. In this Review, we discuss the major contemporary challenges that face cardiac rehabilitation. Despite the strong recommendation in current clinical guidelines for the referral of these patient groups, global access to cardiac rehabilitation remains poor. The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to a further reduction in access to cardiac rehabilitation. An increasing body of evidence supports home-based and technology-based models of cardiac rehabilitation as alternatives or adjuncts to traditional centre-based programmes, especially in low-income and middle-income countries, in which cardiac rehabilitation services are scarce, and scalable and affordable models are much needed. Future approaches to the delivery of cardiac rehabilitation need to align with the growing multimorbidity of an ageing population and cater to the needs of the increasing numbers of patients with cardiac disease who present with two or more chronic diseases. Future research priorities include strengthening the evidence base for cardiac rehabilitation in other indications, including heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, atrial fibrillation and congenital heart disease and after valve surgery or heart transplantation, and evaluation of the implementation of sustainable and affordable models of delivery that can improve access to cardiac rehabilitation in all income settings.

Shorter Wait Times to Cardiac Rehabilitation Associated With Greater Exercise Capacity Improvements: A MULTISITE STUDY

PURPOSE

Comprehensive exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR) results in improved, though highly variable, exercise capacity outcomes. Whether modifiable factors such as CR program wait time and session duration are associated with exercise capacity outcomes has not been adequately investigated.

METHODS

Patients with coronary heart disease (±primary and elective percutaneous coronary interventions, cardiac surgery) who participated in CR programs involved in a three-state audit (n = 32 sites) were eligible. Exercise capacity was measured using the 6-min walk test before and after a 6- to 12-wk supervised exercise program. CR program characteristics were also recorded (wait time, number of sessions). Correlations and linear mixed-effects models were used to identify associations between sociodemographic and CR program characteristics and change in exercise capacity.

RESULTS

Patients (n = 894) had a mean age of 65.9 ± 11.8 yr, 71% were males, 33% were referred for cardiac surgery, and median wait time was 16 d (interquartile range 9, 26). Exercise capacity improved significantly and clinically (mean increase 70.4 ± 61.8 m). After adjusting for statistically significant factors including younger age (<50 vs ≥80 yr [β = 52.07]), female sex (β = -15.86), exercise capacity at CR entry (β = 0.22) and those nonsignificant (ethnicity, risk factors, and number of sessions), shorter wait time was associated with greater exercise capacity improvement (β = 0.23).

CONCLUSIONS

This study confirms that greater exercise capacity improvements occur with shorter wait times. Coordinators should prioritize implementing strategies to shorten wait time to optimize the benefits of CR.

Factors That Predispose Women to Greater Depressive Symptoms: A Sex-, Age-, and Diagnosis-Matched Cardiac Rehabilitation Cohort

BACKGROUND

Depressive symptoms (DS) disproportionately affect women with cardiac disease; however, no analyses have been conducted that would allow for focused sex-specific interventions.

METHODS

Consecutively enrolled women (n = 663) were matched with men postcardiac revascularization at cardiac rehabilitation (CR) entry by primary diagnosis, age, and year of CR entry from database records (2006 to 2017). Multivariate analyses were conducted to determine predictors of DS (≥16 on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale) in all patients and men and women separately.

RESULTS

In bivariate analysis, women were more likely than men to have DS (30.2% vs 19.3%; P < 0.001) in the matched cohort. A greater proportion of women than men had DS in all 10-year age categories (P < 0.05) except youngest (<50 years; 37% vs 30.4%; P = 0.7) and oldest (≥80; 12.3% vs 10.3%; P = 0.8). DS peaked in women aged 50 to 59 (42.5%) and men <50 years (30.4%). In all patients, independent predictors of DS were younger age, lower cardiorespiratory fitness (VO_2peak), being unemployed, greater comorbidities, smoking, anxiolytics, antidepressants, not being married, but not sex. Shared predictors in women-only and men-only analyses were younger age, lower VO_2peak, antidepressants, and being unemployed. Unique predictors for women were obesity, smoking, and delayed CR entry and, for men, hypertension, myocardial infarction, anxiolytics, and not being married.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite matching for age and diagnosis, women were more likely to have DS than men. However, sex was not a predictor of DS in multivariate analyses. This suggests that the profile of women predisposes them to greater DS. Obesity, smoking, and greater delayed CR entry were unique correlates for women and targets for intervention.

Quantifying the impact of delayed delivery of cardiac rehabilitation on patients' health

Background

Despite its role as an effective intervention to improve the long-term health of patients with cardiovascular disease and existence of national guidelines on timeliness, many health services still fail to offer cardiac rehabilitation in a timely manner after referral. The impact of this failure on patient health and the additional burden on healthcare providers in an English setting is quantified in this article.

Methods

Two logistic regressions are conducted, using the British Heart Foundation National Audit of Cardiac Rehabilitation dataset, to estimate the impact of delayed cardiac rehabilitation initiation on the level of uptake and completion. The results of these regressions are applied to a decision model to estimate the long-term implications of these factors on patient health and National Health Service expenditure.

Results

We demonstrate that the failure of 43.6% of patients in England to start cardiac rehabilitation within the recommended timeframe results in a 15.3% reduction in uptake, and 7.4% in completion. These combine to cause an average lifetime loss of 0.08 years of life expectancy per person. Scaled up to an annual cohort this implies 10,753 patients not taking up cardiac rehabilitation due to the delay, equating to a loss of 3936 years of life expectancy. We estimate that an additional £12.3 million of National Health Service funding could be invested to alleviate the current delay.

Conclusions

The current delay in many patients starting cardiac rehabilitation is causing quantifiable and avoidable harm to their long-term health; policy and research must now look at both supply and demand solutions in tackling this issue.

Evaluation of Cardiac Rehabilitation Performance and Initial Benchmarks for Australia: An Observational Cross-State and Territory Snapshot Study

BACKGROUND

Australia, unlike most high-income countries, does not have published benchmarks for cardiac rehabilitation (CR) delivery. This study provides cross-state data on CR delivery for initial benchmarks and assesses performance against international minimal standards.

METHODS

A prospective observational study March-May 2017 of CR programs in NSW (n=36), Tasmania (n=2) and ACT (n=1) was undertaken. Data were collected on 11 indicators (published dictionary), then classified as higher or lower performing using the UK National Audit of Cardiac Rehabilitation (NACR) criteria. Equity of access to higher performing CR was assessed using logistic regression.

RESULTS

Participants (n=2,436) had a mean age of 66.06±12.54 years, 68.9% were male, 16.2% culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and 2.6% Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. At patient level, waiting time was median 15 (Interquartile range [IQR] 9-25) days, 24.3% had an assessment before starting, 41.8% on completion, a median 12 sessions (IQR 6-16) were delivered, which 59.1% completed and 75.4% were linked to ongoing care. At program level, using NACR criteria, 18.0% were classified as higher performing and ≥87.1% met waiting time criteria, however, only 20.5% met duration criteria. Evidence of inequitable access to higher performing programs was present with substantially higher odds for participants living in major cities (OR 28.11 95%CI 18.41, 44.92) and with every decade younger age (OR 1.89-2.94) and lower odds by 89.0% for principal referral hospital-based services (OR 0.11 95%CI 0.08, 0.14) and 31.0% for people having a CALD background (OR 0.69 95%CI 0.49, 0.97).

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides initial national CR performance benchmarks for quality improvement in Australia. While wait times are minimised, few programs are higher performing or met minimum duration standards. There is an urgent need to resource and support CR quality and access outside of major cities, in principal referral hospitals and for older and diverse patients.

Diagnostic evaluation of the hospital depression scale (HADS) and the Beck depression inventory II (BDI-II) in adults with congenital heart disease using a structured clinical interview: Impact of depression severity

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was the diagnostic evaluation of the hospital anxiety and depression scale total score, its depression subscale and the Beck depression inventory II in adults with congenital heart disease.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study evaluated 206 patients with congenital heart disease (mean age 35.3 ± 11.7 years; 58.3% men). Major depressive disorder was diagnosed by a structured clinical interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV and disease severity with the Montgomery-Åsberg depression rating scale. Receiver operating characteristics provided assessment of diagnostic accuracy. Youden's J statistic identified optimal cut-off points.

RESULTS

Fifty-three participants (25.7%) presented with major depressive disorder. Of these, 28 (52.8%) had mild and 25 (47.2%) had moderate to severe symptoms. In the total cohort, the optimal cut-off of values was >11 in the Beck depression inventory II, >11 in the hospital anxiety and depression scale and >5 in the depression subscale. Optimal cut-off points for moderate to severe major depressive disorder were similar. The cut-offs for mild major depressive disorder were lower (Beck depression inventory II >4; hospital anxiety and depression scale >8; >2 in its depression subscale). In the total cohort the calculated area under the curve varied between 0.906 (hospital anxiety and depression scale) and 0.93 (Beck depression inventory II). Detection of moderate to severe major depressive disorder (area under the curve 0.965-0.98) was excellent; detection of mild major depressive disorder (area under the curve 0.851-0.885) was limited. Patients with major depressive disorder had a significantly lower quality of life, even when they had mild symptoms.

CONCLUSION

All scales were excellent for detecting moderate to severe major depressive disorder. Classification of mild major depressive disorder, representing 50% of cases, was limited. Therapy necessitating loss of quality of life is already present in major depressive disorder with mild symptoms. Established cut-off points may still be too high to identify patients with major depressive disorder requiring therapy. External validation is needed to confirm our data.