BACKGROUND-Despite its proven benefits and need, women are significantly less likely to participate in and complete cardiac rehabilitation (CR) than men. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively investigate sex differences in CR barriers by participation status.

Background-Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is an established means of reducing mortality, yet is grossly under-utilized. This is due to both health system and patient-level factors, issues which have yet to be investigated concurrently. This study utilized a hierarchical design to examine physician and patient-level factors affecting verified CR enrollment.

Given that the benefits of CR are achieved in older patients as well as the young, interventions to overcome these modifiable barriers to enrollment and participation are needed.