Effects of systematic cardiac rehabilitation training in elderly patients with unstable angina following cardiac stent implantation

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Coronary stent implantation is usually used to treat unstable angina to alleviate stenosis or occlusion, promoting blood flow restoration and alleviating symptoms such as myocardial ischemia. And postoperative cardiac rehabilitation is essential for enhancing recovery and prognosis. Nevertheless, conventional rehabilitation lacks specificity, particularly for elderly patients with multiple comorbidities and poor compliance, rendering it less effective.

AIM

To investigate the effects of systematic cardiac rehabilitation training in elderly patients with unstable angina following coronary stenting intervention.

METHODS

A retrospective enrollment was conducted comprising fifty-four elderly patients with unstable angina pectoris who underwent systematic cardiac rehabilitation training after receiving coronary intervention as the rehabilitation group, while fifty-three elderly patients who received basic nursing and rehabilitation guidance measures after coronary intervention were assigned to the control group. Differences in Seattle Angina Questionnaire scores, survival quality (SF-36) scores, cardiopulmonary exercise function assessment index, echocardiographic cardiac function index, and adverse cardiovascular events were compared between the two groups.

RESULTS

After intervention, the rehabilitation group observed greater VO₂ Max, maximum metabolic equivalent, eft ventricular ejection fraction, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter and smaller left ventricular end-systolic diameter. And the rehabilitation group observed greater scores of physical activity limitation, stable angina pectoris, treatment satisfaction, and SF-36 score. The incidence of adverse cardiovascular events in the two groups, showed no significant difference.

CONCLUSION

Systematic cardiac rehabilitation following coronary stenting in elderly patients with unstable angina pectoris can enhance cardiac function recovery, consequently enhancing both quality of life and cardiopulmonary exercise tolerance.

Keywords: Systematicity; Cardiac rehabilitation training; Unstable angina pectoris; Coronary stenting implantation; Interventional surgery; Quality of life; Cardiac function; Exercise tolerance

Core Tip: This study will explore the application value of systemic cardiac rehabilitation training in elderly patients with unstable angina pectoris after coronary stent interventional surgery, and preliminatively find that systemic cardiac rehabilitation training can promote the recovery of cardiac function, quality of life and improvement of cardiopulmonary exercise tolerance in these patients.