Objective
To investigate the long-term outcomes of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) on exercise capacity in diabetic (DM) and non-diabetic (non-DM) patients with myocardial infarction (MI).
Methods
Of the MI patients who received hospital-based CR from November 2012 to December 2018, we retrospectively reviewed the medical records of the patients who continued follow-up through the outpatient clinic and community-based self-exercise after CR. A total of 28 patients (12 with DM and 16 without DM) were included in this study. Exercise capacity was measured by symptom-limited exercise tests before hospital-based CR (T0) and 1 year (T1) and 2 year (T2) after the onset of MI.
Results
After the CR, both groups showed significant improvement in their cardiopulmonary factors over time (p<0.001). Mean exercise time of the DM group increased significantly from 769.8 at T0 to 1017.8 at T2 (p<0.001), and the mean exercise time of the non-DM group increased significantly from 875.7 at T0 to 1022.4 at T2 (p<0.001). In addition, peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) of the DM group increased significantly from 24.4 ± 4.8 at T0 to 29.7 ± 7.6 at T2 (p<0.001), and the VO2peak of the non-DM group increased significantly from 22.9 ± 4.5 at T0 to 29.5 ± 5.6 at T2 (p<0.001). However, no significant time and group interaction effects were observed in the DM and non-DM groups.
Conclusion
As a result of continued follow-up through an outpatient clinic and community-based self-exercise after hospital-based CR in patients with MI, both DM and non-DM groups were significantly improved in cardiopulmonary factors over time and had similar exercise capacity 2 year after the onset of MI. But both groups maintained their improved exercise capacity following hospital-based CR. This suggests the importance of long term CR in DM patients. |
