The Association between Exercise Capacity and Health-Related Quality of Life during and after Cardiac Rehabilitation in Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients: a substudy of the OPTICARE Randomized Controlled Trial.

Abstract Objective To examine the strength of the association between exercise capacity and health-related quality of life(HRQOL) during and after cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), who completed CR. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Outpatient CR center. Participants Patients(N=607) with ACS who completed CR. Interventions: Multidisciplinary 12-week exercise-based CR program. Main Outcome Measures At baseline(pre-CR), the six-minute walk test(6MWT) was performed to determine exercise capacity, and the MacNew Heart Disease Health-related Quality of Life questionnaire was used to assess HRQOL. Measurements were repeated immediately after completion of CR(post-CR), at 12 months and 18 months follow-up. Multivariable linear regression, including an interaction term for time and exercise capacity, was applied to study the association between exercise capacity and HRQOL at different time points relative to CR, whereas model parameters were estimated by methods that accounted for dependency of repeated observations within individuals. Results Mean(standard deviation) age was 58(8.9) years and 82% were male. Baseline mean 6MWT distance was 563(77) meters and median(25th-75th percentile) global HRQOL was 5.5(4.6-6.1) points. Mean 6MWT distance(P Conclusion Better exercise capacity was significantly associated with higher scores on the global and physical domains of HRQOL, irrespective of the timing relative to CR, albeit these associations were weak. Hence, CR programs in secondary prevention should continue to aim at enhancing both HRQOL and exercise capacity.