[Rehab Aftercare 'New Credo' in the Cardiac Follow-Up Rehabilitation].

PURPOSE

Physical inactivity is considered the most important modifiable risk factor of cardio-vascular diseases. Therefore medical rehabilitation is focused on the improvement of physical activity. To maintain physical activity after rehabilitation aftercare strategies are necessary which help to transfer the skills learned during rehabilitation into daily routine. In this study the aftercare concept "Neues Credo" which has been evaluated several times has been implemented and evaluated into cardiological follow-up rehabilitation.

METHODS

Prospective, controlled, multicentre study with 4 cardiological rehabilitation institutions.

INCLUSION CRITERIA

rehabilitants with initial diagnosis from the ICD groups I20-25 and I34-43. In the first phase of the study, patients received standard rehabilitation and standard aftercare (control group (KG)). In the second phase, patients received rehabilitation based on the conditions of "Neues Credo" with the focus on increasing physical activity (intervention group (IG)). Data for evaluation were collected by paper-and-pencil questionnaires at 3 points in time. Primary outcome variable: restriction in participation (IMET); secondary outcome variables: depression (CES-D), several scales of subjective health and physical activity. Analysis of variance with repeated measures was used for the evaluation of long-term effects.

RESULTS

Complete data could be evaluated from 152 patients of the IG and from 165 patients of the KG. At the end of rehabilitation both IG and KG showed improvements in outcome variables. In the period after rehabilitation patients in the IG improved their physical activity significantly more often than members of the KG (66 vs. 42%, p<0,01), they showed more physical activity than the KG (p=0,040) and they performed endurance sports more often (58 vs. 38%, p<0,01). The primary outcome of participation shows significant improvements in both groups (p<0,01) 12 months after the rehabilitation, difference between groups did not reach statistical significance but indicated a clear tendency in favour of the IG. Similar trends could be found for the secondary outcome-data CONCLUSION: In this study, the "Neues Credo" was applied and evaluated in cardiologic rehabilitation for the first time. Participants reported high practicability and high satisfaction. Health- related outcomes show a trend of positive effects in favour of the IG, but the interaction effects did not reach statistical significance in most cases. Regarding physical activity the intervention group shows clear advantage and will probably benefit from the long-term effects of regular endurance training.