Effectiveness Of Cardiac Rehabilitation On Clinical Outcomes And Functional Recovery After Myocardial Infarction: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Abstract

Background: Myocardial infarction remains a major cause of morbidity, recurrent hospitalization, impaired functional recovery, and reduced quality of life despite advances in acute cardiovascular management. Cardiac rehabilitation has emerged as an important secondary prevention strategy aimed at improving exercise tolerance, cardiovascular recovery, and long-term clinical outcomes after myocardial infarction. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation on functional recovery and clinical outcomes among patients after myocardial infarction compared with usual care. Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted among 94 patients recovering after myocardial infarction, including 47 patients enrolled in cardiac rehabilitation and 47 receiving usual care. Baseline demographic, clinical, and functional characteristics were recorded, including left ventricular ejection fraction, exercise capacity, and cardiovascular comorbidities. Clinical outcomes assessed included poor clinical outcome composite, major adverse cardiovascular events, rehospitalization, recurrent angina, arrhythmia, mortality, follow-up exercise capacity, and EQ-VAS health status score. Inferential analysis was performed using odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals and p-values. Results: The mean age of participants was 58.9 ± 10.8 years, and 74.5% were male. Cardiac rehabilitation participation was associated with significantly lower odds of poor clinical outcomes (OR: 0.38; 95% CI: 0.14–0.96; p=0.041) and reduced rehospitalization rates (10.6% vs 27.7%; p=0.032). Rehabilitation participants demonstrated significantly higher follow-up exercise capacity (8.0 ± 1.9 vs 6.2 ± 1.8 METs; p<0.001), improved left ventricular ejection fraction (49.5 ± 11.6% vs 44.1 ± 12.2%; p=0.029), and higher EQ-VAS health status scores (79.8 ± 15.4 vs 68.6 ± 17.2; p=0.004). Improvement in exercise capacity of at least 2 METs independently demonstrated a protective association against adverse outcomes (OR: 0.31; 95% CI: 0.10–0.89; p=0.030). Conclusion: Cardiac rehabilitation after myocardial infarction was associated with improved functional recovery, enhanced quality of life, and lower odds of adverse cardiovascular outcomes compared with usual care. These findings support broader implementation of structured rehabilitation programs as an integral component of secondary prevention after myocardial infarction