IT'S HARD KEEPING TRACK OF THE LATEST INFORMATION.
There is so much news in the world of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation, it's hard to stay on top of it all. This "Have Your Read...?" section will be posted regularly, with the goal of providing you an easily-accessible resource of scholarly, industry and simply intriguing articles we think you'll enjoy and that can inform your work. Please let us know if there are articles you think should be included.
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Posted 6/30/2016
Progress Against Heart Deaths Starting to Wane, Report Warns
A new study warns that the rate of decline in deaths from heart disease and stroke has stalled. If these trends continue, important public health goals, such as those set by the American Heart Association to reduce cardiovascular and stroke mortality by 20 percent from 2010 to 2020, may not be reached. Unfortunately the study buries one of the most significant details to surviving recurrent heart attacks: cardiac rehab.
Cardiac Rehab: One Size Does Not Fit All; Canadian Study Reveals ‘Who’ Benefits Most
In a Canadian study published recently in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, researchers discovered that frail, older adults with multiple illnesses and higher baseline risk factors including hypertension and diabetes benefit most from cardiac rehab—while women, living alone, being socio-economically disadvantaged, socially deprived and those with greater levels of body mass index, report lower levels of success with the program.
Posted 6/17/2016
Congratulations to AACVPR for being granted accreditation by NCCA for their CCRP credential. The CCRP is exclusively for cardiac rehabilitation professionals and is the only certification aligned with the published CR competencies.
Posted 6/14/2016
Upcoming International Plant-Based Nutrition Healthcare Conference
The conference takes place in Anaheim, CA, Sept. 21 - 24. Its objective is to prove the benefits of the dietary lifestyle through a review of current and progressive scientific research evidencing the preventive and disease fighting capabilities of whole food, plant-based nutrition. The relevancy of nutritional medicine throughout the patient care spectrum makes this conference a unique medical education opportunity for nurses and all allied health practitioners; the information on plant-based nutrition will be presented with a commitment to intellectual integrity, without bias or influence.
Cardiac Rehabilitation to Improve Congestive Heart Failure
Cardiac rehabilitation and exercise training has been shown to improve clinical status and outcomes in congestive heart failure (CHF) patients. However, it is often difficult to get patients to engage with rehabilitation, exercise and lifestyle changes. Sinai-Grace Hospital (SGH) in Detroit offers the following patient case study to illustrate how rehabilitation programs can aid CHF patients who are willing to engage with them to improve their health.
Cleaner, Fresher Smelling Arteries?
A sugar called cyclodextrin removes cholesterol from hardened arteries in mouse studies. Cyclodextrin, more formally known as 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin, is the active ingredient in the air freshener Febreze. It is also used in a wide variety of drugs; it helps make hormones, antifungal chemicals, steroids and other compounds soluble. If the new results hold up in human studies, the sugar may also one day be used to liquefy cholesterol that clogs arteries.
Half of People Who Have Heart Attacks Don't Even Know It
Because patients don't know they have had a silent heart attack, they may not receive the treatment they need to prevent another one.
Lifestyle Has a Strong Impact on Intestinal Bacteria, Which Has a Strong Impact on Health
Everything you eat or drink affects your intestinal bacteria, and is likely to have an impact on your health. That is the finding of a large-scale study into the effect of food and medicine on the bacterial diversity in the human gut.
Women Have Trouble Sticking to Rehab Programs
Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of disability globally. Participation in cardiac rehabilitation programs is associated with significantly lower death, but evidence suggests that women are significantly less likely to stick to a cardiac rehabilitation program than men.
"It had never occurred to me that I could have a heart attack and it was shocking. I was terrified, from the initial shock to waking up every day as a cardiac patient," Griffey said. "Then it became depressing. I was so weak; I couldn't do anything for myself and I had to depend on people for everything. And you go through a mourning process; mourning your old life. You know it's over. You miss the food and the bad habits. But at some point, you have to embrace the new life."
Nearly 1/3 of Medicare Patients Do Not Adhere to Medications Following a Heart Attack.
A retrospective analysis found that nearly one-third of Medicare patients who were discharged after an acute MI did not adhere to medications within 90 days of leaving the hospital. The medication adherence rates decline within a year of discharge.
In a review published in the European Journal of Preventative Cardiology, studies demonstrated that yoga helped decrease heart disease as much as conventional aerobic exercise such as brisk walking.
