Gender Differences in Cardiac Rehabilitation

A Multisite Examination of Sex Differences in Cardiac Rehabilitation Barriers by Participation Status

“…This sex difference was also found among CR non-participants. Clearly there is need to take into consideration women's lower exercise capacity 14 , greater comorbidities 40 and exercise preferences 39,41 when discussing and providing them with an exercise prescription. Cardiovascular benefits are accrued through accumulation of activity through short bouts 42 and from lower intensity activities such as walking, as well as lifestyle activities more generally 43 .…”

“…CR has been shown to reduce mortality by 25% 4,5 , to reduce the need for rehospitalization and the use of interventional procedures, and to have beneficial effects on cardiac risk factors, exercise capacity, psychosocial well-being, and health behaviors [6][7][8][9] , all in a cost-effective manner [10][11][12] . Studies of CR outcomes have generally revealed no major differences between men and women in terms of changes in risk factors, functional capacity and quality of life 9,[13][14][15][16][17][18] Despite its proven benefits and need, women are significantly less likely to participate in and complete CR 13,[19][20][21][22] . In the United States and Canada 21 , approximately 15-30% of eligible patients participate in CR, with the rate for women being much lower at 11-20% 23 .…”

Gender Differences in Improvement of Function Capacity and Psychological Status Following Cardiac Rehabilitation Program after Different Cardiac Interventions

“…Our findings are comparable with the study by O'Farrel et al that reported similar improvement in exercise capacity and risk factor profile following CR completion. In their study, health-related quality of life scores improved in all scores in both sexes, although women reported less increase than men in their level of overall vitality [10]. Similarly, Mittag et al indicated no gender differences in the preferences for cardiac rehabilitation features [28].…”

“…Despite higher demonstrated poor outcome of cardiac interventions in women [8], data regarding the beneficial effects of a disciplinary CR program on outcome of these procedures in women are also limited. It has been cleared that although women referred for CR have poorer baseline risk profiles than men, but have similar levels of compliance and improvement in exercise capacity and physical parameters [9,10].…”

Leitlinie körperliche Aktivität zur Sekundärprävention und Therapie kardiovaskulärer Erkrankungen

“…Frauen, die an kardialen Rehabilitationsprogrammen teilnehmen, sind im Mittel älter [396], weisen mehr klassische kardiovaskuläre Risikofaktoren [396,[403][404][405] sowie eine geringere funktionale Kapazität auf [406], berichten über ein geringeres Maß an kör-perlicher Freizeitaktivität und zeigen durchgehend eine niedrigere Ausgangsbelastbarkeit als Männer [160,403,[407][408][409]. Bei Rehabilitationsbeginn liegt die Leistungsfähigkeit der Frauen, gemessen an der maximal erreichten Sauerstoffaufnahme (VO 2peak ), deutlich niedriger als bei Männern (14,5±3,9 versus 19,3±6,1 ml/kg/min, p < 0,0001) [160].…”