Cardiac rehabilitation outcomes: modifiable risk factors.

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) plays a significant role in management of heart diseases resulting in an improvement in patients' physical activity and quality of life and a decrease of healthcare costs. The purpose of this article was to review studies that examine outcomes of CR regarding the modifiable risk factors. Literature published between 1995 and 2012 was researched using PubMed and MEDLINE and reference lists of articles. Five hundred and eight studies were identified, however, only 16 met the inclusion criteria. The majority of studies included patients with any coronary heart disease. The study concluded that CR improves patients' self-care; a reduction in cholesterol and body mass index was observed. In addition to this, patients tended to quit smoking and increase their exercise activity. This suggests that the establishment and development of CR services is essential for the most effective management of heart condition.