Obese patients' characteristics and weight loss outcomes in cardiac rehabilitation:An observational study of registry data

AIM: Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) guidelines advocate weight loss for obese patients but mean weight loss is small. We sought to determine the extent to which obese patients' characteristics prior to CR predict weight loss. METHODS: An observational, pre- and post CR study of routine practice using the UK National Audit of Cardiac Rehabilitation dataset was undertaken. Backward, stepwise, multiple linear regression analysis was used to identify characteristics prior to CR that predicted weight change in obese patients. RESULTS: In 29,601 obese patients undertaking CR, mean weight loss was 0.9 kg (SD 4.3; p