Changes in Lipid Profile of Patients Referred to a Cardiac Rehabilitation Program Publisher Pubmed



Sarrafzadegan N¹ ; Rabiei K² ; Kabir A³ ; Asgary S⁴ ; Tavassoli A⁷ ; Khosravi A⁵ ; Chalian H⁶ Show Affiliations
Source: European Journal of Preventive Cardiology Published:2008

Abstract

Cardiac rehabilitation program (CRP) has been demonstrated to have beneficial effects on physical and mental functioning as well as on mortality of patients with cardiovascular diseases, but its exact effect on lipid profile of these patients is still vague. In this study we aimed to evaluate the effect of comprehensive CRP on lipid profile of the Iranian population. Self-controlled descriptive study. We evaluated 547 patients with documented coronary heart disease before and after a 24-session CRP between 1998 and 2003. Some of them received antilipid drugs. Except for diastolic blood pressure, all other biophysical, biochemical [total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and triglyceride (TG)], functional, and psychosocial parameters had significant response to CRP. We can attribute the normalization of lipid in these patients to CRP in combination with medications 34.9% for TC, 17.7% for LDL, and 27.2% for TG ( P < 0.001 for all). Antilipid drugs had some more effect in normalizing the TC (9.7%), LDL (1.8%), and TG (7.3%). Comprehensive CRP improves TC, TG, LDL, and HDL in Iranian patients with cardiovascular disease even without antilipid drugs, and antilipid therapy can boost this effect. Eur J Cardiovasc Prev Rehabil 15:467-472. © 2008, European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved.