Does significant weight reduction in men with coronary artery disease manage risk factors after cardiac rehabilitation program?

Background: Vast majority of cardiac patients who refer to cardiac rehabilitation program (CRP) are obese and obesity is associated with coronary heart disease (CHD). So, the aim of this study is to investigate the effects of CRP on obesity indexes, lipid profiles, and functional capacity (FC) in obese men with CHD and to explore whether significant weight reduction affected these risk factors and FC or not.

Materials And Methods: In an observational study, we evaluated 536 patients, including 464 non-obese men and 72 obese men. All participants completed CRP for 2 months; then, obese patients were divided into two groups: patients with weight reduction ≥ 5% and patients who didn't have significant weight reduction. Data were analyzed with SPSS software version 15. For comparing the mean of outcomes independent t-tests and paired t-tests were used.

Results: Results showed following CRP, non-obese men had significant improvement in obesity indexes (P = 0.00), lipid profiles (P < 0.05), and FC (P = 0.00) and in obese men, favorable improvement were seen in obesity indexes (P = 0.00), FC (P = 0.00), and total cholesterol (P = 0.02). Comparing two groups revealed that there were significant differences in obesity indexes, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio. In addition, comparing subgroup of obese patients revealed that there were significant differences in FC (P = 0.00) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol/ high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (P = 0.04).

Conclusion: CRP has more advantage in management of obesity, FC, and lipid profiles in both obese and non-obese patients. Also, weight reduction may cause greater improvement in FC and fitness levels in obese men with CHD.