Cardiac rehabilitation in the United Kingdom.

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is a cost-effective, life-enhancing and life-saving treatment for patients recovering from cardiac illness--from myocardial infarction, revascularisation, angina, heart failure, etc. Its main aims are to help the patient to recover as quickly and completely as possible and then to reduce to a minimum the chance of recurrence of the cardiac illness--it should be an integral step in the management of the patient's condition. Despite the inclusion of CR in the National Service Framework for coronary heart disease only a minority of cardiac patients join CR programmes.

NSF for CHD: 3 years of 12-month follow-up audit after cardiac rehabilitation.

Background: The coronary heart disease (CHD) National Service Framework (NSF) sets standards and milestones. For acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or coronary revascularization, 'Milestone 3, of Standard 12 requires that, by April 2002, every hospital should have clinical audit data no more than 12 months old showing 'total number and % of those recruited to cardiac rehabilitation who, one year after discharge, report: regular physical activity of at least 30 minutes duration on average five times a week, not smoking and a Body Mass Index (BMI) of <30 kg/m2'. This study looked at cost, method and practicalities of retrieving this data.

Results and cost of meeting the National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease requirement for 12 month follow-up after acute coronary events.

Background: The National Service Framework (NSF) for Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) set standards, targets and milestones. In the case of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or coronary revascularization, Milestone 3 of Standard 12 requires a 12 month audit of exercise and smoking habit and of body mass index (BMI) for patients who have attended cardiac rehabilitation (CR). The targets are that 50 per cent of patients should be exercising regularly, not smoking and have a BMI of <30 kg/m(2).

Psychological assessments for cardiac rehabilitation patients.

Psychological and quality of life measures are important in the assessment of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) patients and the outcome of treatment. This study aimed to assess the utility and sensitivity to change of three simple questionnaires in a CR setting. A total of 1403 patients who entered CR over 51 months were studied.