Cardiac rehabilitation referral, attendance and mortality in women

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) reduces mortality in women and men with coronary artery disease (CAD). The objective of this study was to examine sex differences in long-term mortality, based on CR referral rates and attendance patterns in a large CAD population.

This is a retrospective cohort study.

The Alberta Provincial Project for Outcomes Assessment in Coronary Heart Disease (APPROACH) and Cardiac Wellness Institute of Calgary (CWIC) databases were used to obtain information on all patients. Rates of referral to and attendance at CR were compared by sex. Logistic regression models were constructed to assess whether sex predicted CR referral or completion. The association between referral, completion, and survival was assessed by sex using Cox proportional hazard models.

25,958 subjects (6374—24.6%—were women) with at least one vessel CAD were included. Females experienced reduced rates of CR referral (31.1% vs 42.2%, p < 0.0001) and completion (50.1 vs 60.4%, p < 0.0001). Adjusting for demographic and clinical characteristics, relative to men, CR referral was significantly lower in women (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 0.74, 95% CI 0.69, 0.79) as was CR completion (adjusted OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.66, 0.81). Women completing CR experienced the greatest reduction in mortality (HR 0.36, 95% CI 0.28, 0.45) with a relative benefit greater than men (HR 0.51, 95% CI 0.46, 0.56).

This is the first large cohort study to demonstrate that referral to and attendance at CR is associated with a significant mortality reduction in women, comparatively better than that in men.