Abstract :
Background: Cardiovascular disorders are the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in the industrialized
world and are becoming an increasingly important problem in the developing countries including Pakistan. The
left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) serves as a good assessment tool to document beneficial effects of
cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program in cardiac patients.
Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of short-term CR program on LVEF in patients with
myocardial infarction (MI).
Methods: This study was conducted on 100 patients of less than 75 years of age with acute uncomplicated
anterior wall or anterolateral wall Ml, inferior and RV Ml. Cases were randomized into two groups of age and
sex matched 50 patients each. Group I (study group) patients were administered secondary prevention advice
and were started on the CR exercise protocol, Group II (control group) patients were administered secondary
prevention advice only.
Results: At baseline, LVEF was 42.5% in the study group and 41.4% in the control group patients and was
statistically comparable. After 10 weeks study group showed the LVEF of 47.78% and control group had LVEF
of 42.26%. The differences are being statistically significant.
Conclusion: Significant improvement in LVEF in patients who had been engaged in CR program besides the
secondary prevention strategies when compared with the control group patients who followed secondary
prevention strategies only. The present study is amplify the beneficial effects of simple CR
program, which additionally improves the key cardiac parameters like LVEF in the recovery period.
Keyword :
Cardiac rehabilitation left ventricular ejection fraction, secondary prevention