Physical and mental components after cardiac rehabilitation intervention: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Cardiovascular disease is a major public health problem associated with high mortality and morbidity, reduced exercise capacity, and Health-related quality of life (HRQol). Interventions in Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) programmes have gained ground in optimising these indicators, using patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) to assess the HRQol of patients participating in these programmes, allowing them to show their state of health and make more informed clinical decisions. Purpose To analyse, using PROMs, the effect of CR programmes on the HRQoL of patients after a cardiac event, depending on the time of assessment. Methods The search was carried out in the MEDLINE, CINAHL, CENTRAL and Web of Science databases after registering the protocol in PROSPERO. We included all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared interventions in CR programmes with usual care after a cardiac event and that used PROMs to assess HRQoL over time. The risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane tool (RoB2) and the quality of evidence using the GRADE system. A meta-analysis was carried out with studies that assessed HRQoL in patients with coronary pathology using the SF-12 PROM at 6 months after a CR programme. Results 17 studies with 4,993 patients participating in CR programmes were included. The PROMs used in these studies to assess HRQoL were SF-12 (n=7), SF-36 (n=2), EQ5D (n=5), KCCQ (n=3), MacNewHRQL (n=3) and HeartQol (n=1). In the 3 RCTs of the meta-analysis, and after applying the SF-12 PROM at 6 months after a CR programme in patients with coronary pathology, the effect of participation was positive on HRQoL only in the physical component (MD 7.02; 95%CI [0.41,13.62]; p=0.04). The results of our meta-analysis indicate a moderate overall quality of evidence, using the GRADE approach, when assessing HRQoL at 6 and 12 month after intervention in a CR program. Conclusions This study develops knowledge on CR by showing the different PROMs applied after a programme, demonstrating a positive effect of CR on HRQoL after evaluation by the same PROM. The importance of time for assessing HRQoL was demonstrated by applying the SF-12 after the CR programme in patients with coronary pathology, with statistically significant results in the physical domain at 6 months. Given the importance of these results in improving HRQoL, it will be important for healthcare organisations to implement PROMs, investing more time and resources in a utilisation strategy.