Purpose: Directly measured peak aerobic capacity or oxygen uptake ( ) is a powerful predictor of prognosis in individuals with cardiovascular disease. Women enter phase 2 cardiac rehabilitation (CR) with lower and their response to training, compared with men, is equivocal. We analyzed at entry and exit in patients participating in CR and improvements by diagnosis to assess training response. We also identified sex differences that may influence change in . Methods: The cohort included consecutive patients enrolled in CR between January 1996 and December 2015 who performed entry exercise tolerance tests. Data collected included demographics, index diagnosis, , and exercise training response. Results: The cohort consisted of 3925 patients (24% female). There was a significant interaction between baseline and diagnosis (P < .001), with percutaneous coronary intervention and myocardial infarction greater than other diagnoses. Surgical patients demonstrated greater improvement in than nonsurgical diagnoses (n = 1789; P < .001). Women had lower than men for all diagnoses (P < .02) and demonstrated less improvement (13 vs 17%, P < .001). Percent improvement using estimated metabolic equivalents of task (METs) were similar for women and men (33 vs 31%, P = NS). Despite overall increases in , 18% of patients (24% women, 16% men) failed to demonstrate any improvement (exit ≤ entry ). Conclusions: While there were no differences in training effect estimated by METs, directly measured showed a significantly lower training response for women despite adjusting for covariates. In addition, 18% of patients did not see any improvement in . Alternatives to traditional CR exercise programming need to be considered.

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Purpose Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is a program of structured exercise and interventions for coronary risk factor reduction that reduces morbidity and mortality following a major cardiac event. Although a dose response relationship between number of CR sessions completed and health outcomes has been demonstrated, adherence with CR is not high. In this study we examined associations between number ofsessions completed within CR and patient demographics, clinical characteristics, smoking status, and socioeconomic status (SES). Methods Multiple LogisticRegression and Classification and Regression Tree (CART) modeling were used to examine associations between participant characteristics measured at CR intake and number of sessions completed in a prospectively collected CR clinical database (N=1658). Results Current smoking, lower-SES, non-surgical diagnosis, exercise-limiting comorbidities, and lower age independently predicted fewer sessions completed. The CART analysis illustrates how combinations of these characteristics (i.e., risk profiles) predict number of sessions completed. Those with the highest-risk profile for non-adherence (less than 65 years old, current smoker, lower-SES) completed on average 9 sessions while those with the lowest-risk profile (greater than 72 years old, not current smoker, higher-SES, surgical diagnosis) completed on average 27 sessions. Conclusions Younger individuals, as well as those who report smoking, economic challenges, or have a non-surgical diagnosis, may require additional support to maintain CR session attendance.