Home is best for cardiac rehabilitation
Researchers from the NHS in Cornwall, the Peninsula Medical School, the Agency for Health Technology Assessment in Warsaw and the University of Birmingham have analysed 12 studies relating to cardiac rehabilitation and found no difference in health outcomes for patients who receive cardiac rehabilitation in a clinical setting or at home. The research paper is published today in BMJ Online/bmj.com. The study, which included data from 1938 participants, from several countries (UK, USA, Canada, Italy, China, Turkey and Iran) found that there was no difference between home based and centre based rehabilitation for a number of issues including mortality, cardiac events, exercise capacity, risk factors that can be modified (such as smoking, high blood pressure, total cholesterol) and quality of life in people at a low risk of further events after myocardial infarction or revascularisation...