Benefits of cardiac rehabilitation on self reported quality of life

The relationship between gender and quality of life for a cardiac rehabilitation program was studied. Data from 190 cardiac rehabilitation participants from St. Mary's Medical Center in Galesburg, Illinois were included in this study. The overall goal of this study was to determine if cardiac rehabilitation participation was associated with improvements in quality of life. A 2x2 ANOVA was run to determine if quality of life (measured by the Quality of Life Index-Cardiac Version IV) improved over the course of the cardiac rehabilitation program. A stepwise regression test was also conducted to determine if physical fitness improvements (measured by 6 minute walk test scores) are correlated with the quality of life improvements. Patients reported increases in the QLI score from pre-rehabilitation to post rehabilitation; a significant increase in 6 minute walk test was also seen. Scores seen on the QLI before rehabilitation were the greatest predictor of improvements seen in the same score. Results suggest that cardiac rehabilitation could possibly be involved with improvements in psychological health (QLI). With this data added to the existing pool, health professionals might be encouraged to focus on not only the physical health of the patients, but on their psychological health as well.