Effects of a Cardiac Telerehabilitation Program on the Quality of Life and Functional Independence of Patients With Coronary Artery Bypass Graft: A Non-randomized Controlled Trial

Overview

Journal Cureus

Specialty Biomedical Engineering

Date 2025 Mar 10

PMID 40062015

Authors

Satani Kalpesh

Neha Mukkamala

Palani Kumar

P R Jha

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: The most common surgical approach for the treatment of coronary artery disease is coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), and it helps to lower mortality and morbidity. Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is a systematic approach for improving patients' physical and functional abilities. It also helps promote independence and reduce the rate of hospital readmissions. Following surgery, there is a relatively low referral rate for CR, and compliance is much more of an issue. Increasing involvement in CR can be achieved by cardiac telerehabilitation. Thus, this study aims to evaluate how cardiac telerehabilitation affects functional independence and quality of life in patients with CABG.

Methods: A non-randomized controlled trial was conducted in a multispecialty hospital for four years in which a total of 49 consecutive CABG patients were recruited and divided into a cardiac telerehabilitation (25 patients, including 12 males and 13 females) and home exercise group (24 patients, including eight males and 16 females) through purposive sampling based on their ability to use audio-visual aid and participate in cardiac telerehabilitation. Functional independence was assessed with the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) scale and quality of life was measured with the Short Form-36 (SF-36) scale at discharge, one month, and three months post discharge.

Results: The mean FIM score of group A was 107.40 (4.72) and group B was 105.92 (2.60), whereas the mean SF-36 score of group A was 35.61 (6.36) and group B was 31.59 (5.18). At three months post discharge, patients in the cardiac telerehabilitation group showed statistically significant improvement in functional status (p = 0.033 at one month and p = 0.019 at three months post cardiac telerehabilitation) and quality of life (p = 0.001 at three months post cardiac telerehabilitation).

Conclusion: Cardiac telerehabilitation is beneficial for patients with CABG, improving their daily living and quality of life if they are unable to attend center-based CR.

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