ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION; ASSESSMENT OF LEFT VENTRICULAR EJECTION FRACTION IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING CARDIAC REHABILITATION FOLLOWING ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION.

Background: Death and morbidity are commonly occurred worldwide due to heart diseases and are becoming an increasingly important problem in the developing countries including Pakistan. The left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) serves as a good assessment tool to document beneficial effects of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program in cardiac patients. Objectives: To evaluate the effect of short-term CR program on LVEF in patients with myocardial infarction (MI). Study Design: Cross sectional and Case series study. Setting: Departments of Cardiology, Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad. Period: 1st January 2014 to 30th June 2014. Methods: 100 patients of less than 75 years of age with acute uncomplicated anterior wall or anterolateral wall MI, inferior and RV 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 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]