Influence of COVID-19 on the effectiveness of a cardiac rehabilitation programme in patients with coronary heart disease.

BACKGROUND

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) improves quality of life, functional capacity, and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). However, post-COVID-19 sequelae may affect baseline physical condition and potentially influence CR outcomes.

OBJECTIVES

To compare baseline inspiratory muscle strength, hand grip force, cardiorespiratory function and quality of life in CHD patients with and without prior COVID-19, and to evaluate their response to a CR programme.

METHODS

A prospective observational study was conducted with 77 CHD patients enrolled in a supervised CR programme. Participants were divided according to previous COVID-19 infection. The intervention included individualized aerobic, strength, and respiratory muscle training. Outcomes included body mass index, abdominal circumference, inspiratory muscle strength, manual grip force, cardiorespiratory function and health-related quality of life.

RESULTS

Both groups showed significant within-group improvements in body mass index, abdominal circumference, maximal inspiratory pressure, manual grip force, METs, exercise test duration, and all SF-36 subscales (p ≤ 0.03). No significant between-group differences were observed either at baseline or post-intervention, except for vitality and health transition domains after CR (p ≤ 0.02).

CONCLUSIONS

A structured CR programme was associated with significant improvements in functional capacity and quality of life in patients with CHD. No significant differences were observed between patients with and without prior COVID-19 infection. These findings suggest that a history of COVID-19 may not be associated with differences in response to CR; however, results should be interpreted with caution given the observational design and the limited clinical characterization of COVID-19.