Abstract P323: Cardiac Rehabilitation is Associated With Decreased Mortality in HIV Patients With Cardiovascular Disease

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV+) patients are at high risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). While cardiac rehabilitation (CR) reduces mortality in uninfected (HIV-) patients with CVD, there are no specific data on CR use in CVD patients with HIV. Methods: We analyzed data on 7650 veterans (28.4% HIV+) eligible for CR from the Veterans Aging Cohort Study, an observational cohort of HIV+ and HIV- veterans. CR eligibility was defined as a hospitalization for acute myocardial infarction, percutaneous coronary intervention, coronary artery bypass grafting, or cardiac valve surgery from 2003-2012, identified using ICD9 and CPT codes. CR use was ascertained from VA and non-VA facilities within one year of discharge from the index CVD hospitalization using CPT codes. We evaluated the association between CR and mortality after adjusting for age, eligibility diagnosis, race, sex, and comorbidities using Cox proportional hazard models. Results: CR use was low in HIV+ and HIV- veterans (9.1% vs. 9.6%,...