Predictors of Early and Late Enrollment in Cardiac Rehabilitation, Among Those Referred, After Acute Myocardial Infarction

Background—Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a Class I recommendation. Although referral to CR after an AMI has recently become a performance measure, many patients may not participate. To illuminate potential barriers to participation, we examined the prevalence of, and patient-related factors associated with, CR participation within 1 and 6 months after an AMI. Methods and Results—We studied 2096 AMI patients enrolled from 19 US sites in the Prospective Registry Evaluating outcomes after Myocardial Infarction: Events and Recovery (PREMIER) registry. Analyses were limited to those patients referred for CR at the time of AMI hospitalization. A multivariable, conditional logistic regression model, stratified by hospital, was used to identify sociodemographic, comorbidity, and clinical factors independently associated with CR participation within 1 and 6 months of AMI hospital discharge. Only 29% (419/1450) and 48.25% (650/1347) of AMI patients who received referral for ...