Assessment of left ventricular ejection fraction in patients undergoing cardiac rehabilitation following acute myocardial infarction

Background: Cardiovascular disorders are the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in the industrialized world and are becoming an increasingly important problem in the developing countries including India. The left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) serves as a good assessment tool to document beneficial effects of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program in cardiac patients. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of short-term CR program on LVEF in patients with myocardial infarction (MI). Methods: This study was conducted on 100 patients of less than 75 years of age with acute uncomplicated anterior wall or anterolateral wall MI. Cases were randomized into two groups of age and sex matched 50 patients each. Group I (study group) patients were administered secondary prevention advice and were started on the CR exercise protocol, Group II (control group) patients were administered secondary prevention advice only. Results: At baseline, LVEF was 42.5% in the study group and 41.4% in the control group patients and was statistically comparable. After 10 weeks study group showed the LVEF of 47.78% and control group had LVEF of 42.26%. The differences are being statistically significant. Conclusion: Significant improvement in LVEF in in patients who had been engaged in CR program besides the secondary prevention strategies when compared with the control group patients who followed secondary prevention strategies only. The present study is amplify the beneficial effects of simple CR program, which additionally improves the key cardiac parameters like LVEF in the recovery period.