The contribution of cardiac rehabilitation program in management of diabetes mellitus: A systematic review

Abstract Aims to determine the effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programs in management of DM. Methods Pubmed database was researched from June 2018 to July 2018 for randomized control trials and cohort studies between 2013 and 2018. Data were extracted, and validity was assessed by 2 reviewers and graded using the Cochrane Collaboration tool for assessing risk of bias. Results A total of 208 articles were screened for relevance. Only 8 articles were deemed eligible for this review, 4 retrospective and 4 prospective studies. Totally 23.415 people with DM participated in CR, whereas the mean duration of CR programs was 12 weeks. The findings indicated a reduction in total mortality, length of hospitalization and risk for cardiac surgery. Also, it was observed a decrease in body weight, blood glycose, glycated hemoglobin, insulin resistance and blood lipids. Conclusion It is imperative the increase of CR programs and people' participation with DM with the aim of effective management of their disease and reduction of health care cost. In addition, it is observed a gap in knowledge and more research is needed.