Variations in Assessment Methods of Heterogeneous Exercise Capacity Response After Cardiac Rehabilitation
- 1Department of Cardiology and Internal Diseases, Military Institute of Medicine, National Research Institute, Szaserow Street 128, 04-141 Warsaw, Poland
Abstract
Background: Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) improves the prognosis of patients with cardiac diseases by, among other measures, improving exercise capacity (EC) as assessed according to different parameters. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of phase II of CR on the different measurements of EC and to assess the distribution of changes in these measurements among patients who underwent the intervention. Methods: From a single-center retrospective registry, records of 295 patients who underwent the six-minute walk test (6MWT) and cardiopulmonary exercise testing twice during CR were evaluated. The distance of the 6MWT, peak oxygen uptake (VO2) expressed in absolute values and as a percentage of predicted values, and workload on a cycle ergometer were assessed before and after CR and then analyzed. Results: Among the 295 patients (228 men, mean age 62 years [range: 55–69 years]), CR resulted in improvements in the median value of peak VO2 (approximately 1 mL/kg/min, 3% of the predicted value), workload (by approximately 5 watt), and 6MWT distance (by approximately 24 m, 5% of the predicted value). A total of 53.6% of the patients achieved an improvement in peak VO2 of ≥1 mL/kg/min and 44.1% of the patients achieved an improvement in 6MWT distance of >30 m. Simultaneous improvement in both peak VO2 and 6MWT distance was observed in 23% of the participants, whereas 26% did not achieve clinically meaningful improvement in either parameter. Conclusions: CR improved exercise capacity, although the proportion of patients who achieved clinically meaningful improvement differed substantially across the exercise capacity measurements.
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BibTeX
@article{kurpaska2026variations,
title = {{Variations in Assessment Methods of Heterogeneous Exercise Capacity Response After Cardiac Rehabilitation}},
author = {Małgorzata Kurpaska and Katarzyna Piotrowicz and Marzena Kubiak and Katarzyna Alisz and Paweł Krzesiński},
journal = {Journal of Clinical Medicine},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.3390/jcm15218662},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/15/21/8662},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Variations in Assessment Methods of Heterogeneous Exercise Capacity Response After Cardiac Rehabilitation
AU - Małgorzata Kurpaska
AU - Katarzyna Piotrowicz
AU - Marzena Kubiak
AU - Katarzyna Alisz
AU - Paweł Krzesiński
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/06
JO - Journal of Clinical Medicine
DO - 10.3390/jcm15218662
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/15/21/8662
AB - Background: Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) improves the prognosis of patients with cardiac diseases by, among other measures, improving exercise capacity (EC) as assessed according to different parameters. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of phase II of CR on the different measurements of EC and to assess the distribution of changes in these measurements among patients who underwent the intervention. Methods: From a single-center retrospective registry, records of 295 patients who underwent the six-minute walk test (6MWT) and cardiopulmonary exercise testing twice during CR were evaluated. The distance of the 6MWT, peak oxygen uptake (VO2) expressed in absolute values and as a percentage of predicted values, and workload on a cycle ergometer were assessed before and after CR and then analyzed. Results: Among the 295 patients (228 men, mean age 62 years [range: 55–69 years]), CR resulted in improvements in the median value of peak VO2 (approximately 1 mL/kg/min, 3% of the predicted value), workload (by approximately 5 watt), and 6MWT distance (by approximately 24 m, 5% of the predicted value). A total of 53.6% of the patients achieved an improvement in peak VO2 of ≥1 mL/kg/min and 44.1% of the patients achieved an improvement in 6MWT distance of >30 m. Simultaneous improvement in both peak VO2 and 6MWT distance was observed in 23% of the participants, whereas 26% did not achieve clinically meaningful improvement in either parameter. Conclusions: CR improved exercise capacity, although the proportion of patients who achieved clinically meaningful improvement differed substantially across the exercise capacity measurements.
SN - 2077-0383
ER -