Effectiveness and Safety of Early Initiation of Poststernotomy Cardiac Rehabilitation Exercise Training: The SCAR Randomized Clinical Trial.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Guidelines recommend that cardiac rehabilitation (CR) exercise training should not start until 6 weeks after sternotomy, although this is not evidence based. Limited data suggest that starting earlier is not detrimental, but clinical trials are needed.

Objective

To compare the effectiveness and safety of CR exercise training started either 2 weeks (early CR) or 6 weeks (usual-care CR) after sternotomy.

Design, setting, and participants

This was an assessor-blind, noninferiority, parallel-group, randomized clinical trial that conducted participant recruitment from June 12, 2017, to March 17, 2020. Participants were consecutive cardiac surgery sternotomy patients recruited from 2 outpatient National Health Service rehabilitation centers: University Hospital,

SUBMITTER: Ennis S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9218928 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature