Cardiac Rehabilitation and Secondary Prevention Strategies
Summary
Cardiac rehabilitation constitutes an evidence-based, multidisciplinary programme designed to restore physical function, promote psychological well-being and reduce the risk of recurrent cardiovascular events in patients with established heart disease. Core components include structured exercise training, nutritional counselling, psychosocial support, smoking cessation, education on medication adherence and management of comorbidities such as hypertension, dyslipidaemia and diabetes. Secondary prevention strategies integrate pharmacotherapy with lifestyle modification to attenuate atherosclerotic progression and improve long-term outcomes. Globally, participation in cardiac rehabilitation has been associated with reductions in cardiovascular mortality, hospital readmissions and adverse events, as well as enhancements in health-related quality of life. Innovations in delivery models such as home-based or telerehabilitation approaches seek to overcome barriers of access, particularly in regions with limited infrastructure. Emphasis on personalised exercise prescriptions, risk stratification and behavioural change techniques underpins contemporary programmes, which strive to achieve sustained engagement and adherence to secondary prevention targets. The international significance of cardiac rehabilitation is reflected in guidelines calling for its integration into standard cardiovascular care pathways and for addressing inequities in programme availability and uptake.
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Cardiac Rehabilitation and Secondary Prevention Strategies publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention strategies across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Cardiac rehabilitation: A structured, multidisciplinary programme aimed at improving cardiovascular health, functional capacity and psychosocial outcomes in patients with heart disease.
Secondary prevention: Strategies, including lifestyle modification and pharmacotherapy, implemented after an initial cardiac event to prevent recurrence.
Meta-analysis: A statistical method that combines data from multiple studies to derive a pooled estimate of effect.
Telerehabilitation: Delivery of rehabilitation services remotely via telecommunication technologies.
mHealth: The use of mobile devices and applications to support health interventions and behaviour change.
References
- Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis. European Heart Journal (2023).
- Exercise intensity assessment and prescription in cardiovascular rehabilitation and beyond: why and how: a position statement from the Secondary Prevention and Rehabilitation Section of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology (2021).
- A randomized trial of a mobile health intervention to augment cardiac rehabilitation. npj Digital Medicine (2023).
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