The Impact of Education on Patients Eligible for Cardiac Rehabilitation and Factors Contributing to Declining Participation in Turkish Society: Are Patients Aware of Cardiac Rehabilitation?

Objective: Despite their effectiveness, cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programs have low participation and adherence rates. CR participation and adherence are directly related to the social, economic, cultural, and geographical characteristics of the society. Therefore, our study aimed to investigate the reasons behind low participation in CR within Turkish society, as well as the barriers that restrict participation despite educational efforts.

Aortic elastic properties in athletes using anabolic-androgenic steroids.

The use of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) has been linked to acute cardiovascular events in athletes. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the aortic elastic properties in athletes who had been self-administering AAS compared with a group of athletes not using these drugs. Fourteen male bodybuilders using AAS and 27 male wrestlers (non-users) volunteered to the study.

Discrimination between physiologic and pathologic left ventricular dilatation.

The identification of certain cardiovascular disease in athletes may constitute the basis for disqualification from competition in an effort to minimize the risk of sudden cardiac death. The aim of this study was to assess diastolic and systolic parameters measured by tissue Doppler imaging in endurance veteran athletes who had prominent cardiac dilatation and patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy in order to determine whether these variables might differentiate each other.