Characteristics and correlates of disease-related knowledge and exercise self-efficacy among cardiac patients attending virtual cardiac rehabilitation during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Peru.

Background: Government responses and restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., limits to non-urgent health care services, including non-urgent outpatient appointments) led to the suspension of center-based (in-person) cardiac rehabilitation (CR), with many programs switching to virtual delivery.

[Cardiac tele-rehabilitation in times of pandemic. Experience at the National Cardiovascular Institute INCOR in Lima-Peru].

Objective: Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) programs based on telehealth are an alternative in the context of a pandemic and represent an opportunity to continue in the intervention of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The present study aims to evaluate the effect of a Cardiac Tele-Rehabilitation (CTR) program on quality of life, anxiety/depression index, exercise safety and Level Of disease awareness in patients discharged from a national referral institute in times of pandemic.

Methods: A pre-experimental study in cardiac patients who entered the cardiac rehabilitation program at INCOR from August to December 2020.