Advantages and Limitations of Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs

Introduction

Cardiac ailments are peaking daily, impacting not only the general health but also the mental well-being of a person. Many cardiac issues are grave and can potentially endanger one's life. So once an individual gets detected and diagnosed with heart-related issues, like a heart attack (impaired blood delivery to muscles that make up the heart), it creates further fear and panic in the patients. Terror and anxiety often worsen the condition and impact the disease's progression and prognosis. There comes the role of cardiac rehabilitation programs, which help the patients to live with these alarming maladies by providing necessary guidelines that can make the patient's life much easier.

What Are Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs?

Cardiac rehabilitation programs are training sessions, instructions, and guidelines for individuals who are either suffering from heart disease, recently underwent related cardiac surgeries, or are recovering from the condition. These programs are tailor-made individually, considering each patient's heart condition and associated risk factors. It typically lasts about three to four months, during which the patients will be given a clear understanding of how to live with cardiac diseases.

The cardiac rehabilitation program is an integrated and multifaceted program, where the patients are guided by a panel of specialist doctors encompassing cardiac surgeons, cardiac rehabilitation specialists, dieticians, and many more. It is occasionally included as part of the routine cardiac treatment. Certain clinical trials have concluded the effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation programs in checking further cardiac complications by helping patients to lead a cardiac-friendly lifestyle.

What Are the Cardiac Diseases for Which a Cardiac Rehabilitation Program Is Advised?

As the name suggests, a cardiac rehabilitation program is advised for patients with various heart conditions. There is no specific restriction for cardiac rehabilitation programs, so it has an extensive application area. The following are the heart conditions for which cardiac rehabilitation programs are routinely advised:

• Heart attack.

• Heart failure (impaired blood pumping).

• Angina (chest pain).

• Congenital heart disease (inborn issues in the heart).

• Cardiac arrhythmias (altered heartbeat rhythm).

• Coronary artery disease (constriction of the artery lumen of the coronary artery, which delivers blood to the heart).

In addition to these heart disorders, cardiac rehabilitation programs are also advised for patients who have undergone certain cardiac surgeries like:

• Angioplasty (surgical intervention to re-establish the impaired blood flow by unblocking the clogged arteries).

• Heart valve operations (surgeries for repairing or replacing defective valves with artificial valves to ensure smooth heart functioning).

• Heart bypass surgery (surgeries to bypass the hindrance to blood flow).

• Heart transplantation surgeries (surgery to substitute a defective heart with a healthy one from another).

• Pacemaker implantation surgery (surgery to keep the pacemaker in position to keep the rhythm of the heartbeat.

What Are the Advantages of Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs?

Cardiac rehabilitation programs offer numerous benefits for patients. Some of the widely reported advantages precipitated by cardiac rehabilitation programs include the following:

• It helps in boosting the body as well as the mind by tackling unnecessary tension and stress buildup. Cardiac rehabilitation programs offer remarkable improvement in the quality of life.

• It considerably reduces the likelihood of developing new cardiovascular events and complications like heart attacks or heart blocks so that the patient can quickly return to their routine life.

• Cardiac rehabilitation programs bring down cardiac manifestations like heavy chest, chest tightness, and short breaths. The frequency and intensity of the cardiac manifestations also collapse. In addition, these rehabilitation programs also help in bringing down the death rate associated with cardiac diseases.

• It not only stops the disease progression but also helps the person to recover from it. The individualized plan ensures the program's efficacy in every patient.

• It is also available as a home-based program where patients can undergo the program enjoying the comfort of being at their house.

• The exercise plan included in the program helps the patients to achieve physical and mental health. Trained and qualified professionals will provide the exercise sessions under close monitoring of vital parameters like heartbeat, breathing rate, and pulse rate.

• The program guides dietary habits, which are monitored and regulated by the dieticians who work with the cardiac rehabilitation team. Regular exercise and healthy food habits are two crucial parameters that can reflect apparent changes in heart health.

• This program helps educate and counsel patients on the importance of withdrawing from smoking and alcohol consumption. Smoking and alcoholism are two major cardiac health determinants that can wreck cardiac functions.

• Studies have proven an enhanced recovery and prognosis with patients who have undergone cardiac rehabilitation programs.

• Cardiac diseases can potentially guide a person into a depressive mindset. Cardiac rehabilitation programs offer a better understanding of the disease and the effectiveness of the treatment interventions, which help the patient from getting into clinical depression (feeling lost and sad).

What Are the Limitations and Challenges of Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs?

Despite the promising results of cardiac rehabilitation programs, patient participation and retention within the program remain remarkably low. A major chunk of the cardiac patients who can benefit from cardiac rehabilitation programs often hold back from enrolling.

Likewise, many patients who enrolled for the session often drop out in between and fail to complete it. Hence patient participation is one of the major challenges with cardiac rehabilitation programs. It can be tackled by enhancing the referral rates for cardiac rehabilitation programs by the physician. Patient participation and retention can be enhanced by giving a clear picture of these rehabilitative sessions and their benefits.

Certain studies have suggested that female patients often back out from participating in cardiac rehabilitation programs rather than the male population. It is primarily the result of gender bias in referring the patients for the programs. Furthermore, cardiac rehabilitation programs are expensive and not budget friendly for all socio-economic classes. Therefore it poses financial constraints for a noninsured, low and middle-income population to access the service.

The presence of other underlying medical conditions and ailments often restricts patients from being a part of these rehabilitation programs. In addition, home-based cardiac rehabilitation programs are not made available in all places, especially in rural areas. So patients from such places must frequently travel to the cardiac rehabilitation centers to access the service, compromising patient participation.

Conclusion

Cardiac rehabilitation programs offer a broad spectrum of benefits for cardiac patients and help them fight off the odds. However, it does carry certain limitations and challenges that restrict the participation of cardiac patients. Patient enrollment can be enhanced by educating about various rehabilitative strategies and their long-term impact on their lives. Initiating more home-based programs helps tackle many of the physical constraints for the patients and could even augment patient enrollment. Cardiac rehabilitation programs reflect an appreciable reduction in cardiac mortality rates.