Efectividad de la rehabilitación cardiaca en un grupo de pacientes de alto riesgo

Introduction. Actually, the evidence shows that all cardiac patients may obtain benefits from cardiac rehabilitation programs (CRP), including patients with Heart Failure. In Spain, the population who access programs is low (2-3%), offering only by 12 public centers of the National Health System. The objective of the study is to determine the impact of a cardiac rehabilitation program on the quality of life of high-risk patients with heart failure, as well as to reduce the percentage of risk factors associated with coronary heart disease. Material and methods. It realized a quasi-experimental study to 29 patients with heart failure (high-risk group). They were selected by simple random sampling and stratified according to the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVP). They were included in a Cardiac Rehabilitation Program (Phase II) of a hospital in Cordoba. The Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire for the evaluation of quality of life was used at baseline and postprogram. To evaluate the differences before and after the intervention, the T-Student test was used for paired data. Results. The progressive aerobic conditioning showed a significant improvement in the perceived effort by more than 90% of the participants. The increase in the perception of quality of life related to health shows statistically significant results in the 4 subscales: general health, emotional role, corporal pain and social function (p