Clinical and functional features of the post-infarction course of coronary heart disease on the background of cardiac rehabilitation (with cycling training in the II phase) at 3-year follow-up

The aim – to study the clinical and functional characteristics of patients after myocardial infarction (MI) who referred stage II of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) with physical training (PT) during 3 years follow-up. Materials and methods. The study included 91 patients with primary Q-MI in the absence of contraindications to the CR. Criteria for inclusion were an early postinfarct angina, large aneurysm of the left ventricle, intracavitary formation of thrombus, the reduction of the EF to 35 % and below, complex cardiac arrhythmias and disturbances of conduction, the atrial fibrillation at the time of inclusion in the study, multivessel lession of coronary arteries, left bundle branch block, disorders of the musculoskeletal system, which prevented holding bicycle ergometry test, acute violation of cerebral circulation in the anamnesis, cancer and decompensation of comorbidities. Treatment was carried out according to modern recommendations; at admission coronary angiography with stenting of the infarct-occluded coronary artery was performed. Depending on the volume of rehabilitation measures, the patients were divided into two groups: group 1 consisted 47 patients who in the early post-hospital phase accomplished the program of PT on the bicycle ergometer; group 2 consisted of 44 patients in whom CR was carried out only in the form of distance walking and complexes of therapeutic exercises. Dosed physical load test on a bicycle ergometer, echocardiography, lipid metabolism indexes were evaluated in all patients at discharge from hospital. All exams were performed in dynamics in 4 months (the period corresponding to the end of the program 30 PT), after 1, 2 and 3 years. Results and discussion. At baseline the patients of both groups did not differ in any of the clinical-functional and anamnestic data. The clinical course was evaluated by the following indices: recurrent MI, coronary artery bypass grafting and stenting. Events increased after 2 (7 patients in 1 and 9 patients in 2 group) and 3 (6 and 15 patients, respectively) years. During the first year, all patients took 100 % of P2Y12 receptor blockers, rosuvastatin and beta-blockers; aspirin was used in 95 % of patients in each group; the number of patients who have received ACE inhibitors increased to 81 % in group 1 and 91 % in group 2. A decrease in the doses of statins at the outpatient stage as they move away from acute MI has led to an increase in LDL cholesterol over the years. This index in 4 months after MI in 1st group was 1.82 (1.39–2.20) and 2nd group was 1.83 (1.49–2.21) mmol/l, after 1 year – 1.79 (1.48–2.04) and 2.80 (2.33–3.21) mmol/l, after 2 years – 2.48 (2.12–2.98) and 2.34 (1,93–3.01) mmol/l, after 3 years – 2.29 (2.15–2.49) and 2.40 (2.26–2.61) mmol/l, respectively. The tolerance to physical load with the best hemodynamic efficiency of the work has increased significantly to (140.0; 125.0–150.0) W after 1 year compared with the 2nd group (p<0,01). For 3 years, it remained high in the 1st group, and it decreased to baseline levels in the 2nd group. Postinfarction remodeling processes were manifested by a decrease in EDV and an increase in EF, especially in the 1st group (p<0,01) after six months without significant dynamics for 3 years.Conclusions. CR with PT (30 sessions) contributed to an increase in exercise tolerance maximally after the end of training and lasted for 3 years. The aspects of psychological rehabilitation and health education for patients and their relatives were important (38 % of patients of the 1st group continued PT on their own at home). The training start time (on average, on the 15th or 40th day of MI) did not affect the results of the load test. It is important that a large percentage of patients continued to take the drugs recommended at discharge, but during 3 years follow up, the doses of the drugs were significantly reduced with insufficient control of hemodynamic and biochemical parameters, which led to the growth of one of the main factors in the progression of atherosclerosis – the level of low density lipoproteins.