Cardiologia Clínica e Experimental
Acesso livre
ISSN: 2155-9880
ISSN: 2155-9880
Manijeh Zarghampour, Abbasali Karimi and Mostafa Nejatian
Background: Because of lower exercise capacity and energy as well as function score in women, improvement of these indices following cardiac rehabilitation (CR) may be of greater clinical benefit to women than to men. The purpose of the present study was to determine if there were gender differences in risk profiles and function capacity as well as perceptions of quality of life and depression-anxiety status in CR patients.
Methods: Three hundred and eleven consecutive patients who underwent various cardiac interventions and attended 20 or more of the CR sessions in an exercise-based CR program at the Tehran Heart Center between August 2008 and August 2009 were included. The main outcome measures were differences in the changes of exercise parameters, the health-related quality of life (QOL) (assessed by a standardized self-rating Short Form 36 Health Questionnaire), as well as depressed and anxious mood (assessed by the Costello-Comrey Depression and Anxiety Scale).
Results: The metabolic equivalent (METs) level of men was higher than that of women at baseline and at the end of CR, but its changes was not significant between the two genders. At the end of the three-month program, although men had higher post-exercise systolic blood pressure, peak heart rate and peak O2 consumption than women, improvements in these parameters were not statistically different between them. Regarding health-related quality of life scores, both men and women improved in all scores, although men reported more increase in their level of general health, however the changes of all QOL scores and depression-anxiety level were globally similar in both genders.
Conclusion: Improvement in exercise parameters, QOL, and depression-anxiety state is similarly occurred in men and women following complete CR program.