Gender differences in functional capacity following myocardial infarction: an exploratory study.

: This study examined functional capacity and hemodynamic responses to exercise in men and women during early recovery after myocardial infarction (MI). Participants were tested at hospital discharge and six weeks following discharge. At each testing time, they completed the Beck Depression Inventory and a symptom-limited graded exercise test (SL-GXT). Functional capacity, expressed in metabolic equivalents (METs), was estimated from performance on the SL-GXT. Hemodynamic response measures included heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP). and rate-pressure product (RPP). Both men and women demonstrated significant increases in functional capacity from discharge to six weeks later although the levels were lower for women (M = 2.8 METs) than men (M = 7.3 METs). This indicates a need for gender-sensitive counselling for unsupervised exercise rehabilitation during early recovery following MI.