Comparing Virtual and Center Based Cardiac Rehabilitation on Changes in Frailty

Abstract

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is the gold standard for the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Frailty defines health in ageing and is associated with adverse health outcomes. Evidence suggests traditional CR can reduce frailty levels, with the greatest improvements observed in the most severely frail patients. CR is also offered virtually, whereby patients receive their care remotely. Yet, whether virtual CR can improve patient frailty has not been studied. Here, we compared virtual versus center-based CR on changes in frailty and cardiovascular biomarkers. We observed center (0.14±0.003) versus virtual CR participants (0.07±0.003) had higher baseline frailty, though, we found no effect of cardiac rehabilitation model on change in frailty. Additionally, frailer virtual participants at admission showed greater frailty improvements (-3.810 [-7.360,-0.251], p=.034) and greater reductions in triglyceride (-0.766 [-1.508,-0.025], p=0.04) and cholesterol (-0.660 [-1.229,-0.092], p=.021) than center-based participants. Therefore, we recommend virtual CR as a feasible alternative to traditional CR.