Cardiovascular Atlas
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Cardiac rehabilitation

A medically supervised program for people with heart disease or after a heart event or heart procedure. MedlinePlus says a team of specialists builds a plan that includes exercise training, education on heart healthy living and counseling to reduce stress, with the aims of returning to an active life and lowering the chance of further heart problems. It is offered after a heart attack, angioplasty or bypass surgery for coronary heart disease, valve repair or replacement, heart or lung transplant, angina and heart failure. An updated Cochrane review of 85 trials in people with coronary heart disease found fewer heart attacks and fewer hospital admissions at 6 to 12 months compared with no exercise, likely little or no difference for some other outcomes, and uncertain effects for others. Many eligible people never take part (see the participation page).

Also called Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation

  • Intervention
  • In this atlas

Overview

Technical summary

Subtype rehabilitation. MeSH Cardiac Rehabilitation (D000072038) is an exact match. The evidence recorded here is the Cochrane review of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease (85 trials, 23,430 participants; the review compared exercise training alone, or combined with psychosocial or educational interventions, with no exercise), split into four claims by GRADE certainty and follow-up, and the MedlinePlus description of who is offered it and what it includes. A joint scientific statement from rehabilitation and cardiology societies describes it as using patient education, health behavior modification and exercise training to improve secondary prevention outcomes, and as significantly underused in the United States. The Cochrane review covers coronary heart disease only. A heart failure trial of a supervised exercise training program is recorded separately; its registry record and abstract do not call that program cardiac rehabilitation, so this record does not link the trial to it.

About this intervention

Type
Rehabilitation
Mechanism
Exercise training with education on heart healthy living and counseling to reduce stress, planned by a team of specialists (MedlinePlus).

Claims and evidence

Context Adults with coronary heart disease in randomised trials of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (Cochrane review)

Recipient
Adult
Population
Adult men and women who have had a myocardial infarction (MI), coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), or who have angina pectoris or coronary artery disease, in trials that compared exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation with a no-exercise control. The 85 trials included predominantly post-MI and post-revascularisation patients.
Care setting
Randomised trials of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation, with exercise training alone or combined with psychosocial or educational interventions. The abstract does not describe the settings of the individual trials.
Geography
Trials from many countries; the abstract says 21 of the 85 trials were done in low- and middle-income countries.
Life stage
Adults; the mean age across the included trials ranged from 47 to 77 years
Follow-up
The review split results into short-term (6 to 12 months), medium-term (more than 12 to 36 months) and long-term (more than 3 years) follow-up. The median longest follow-up was 12 months (range 6 months to 19 years).
Eligibility: 2 inclusion criteria; exclusion criteria not stated
Included
  • Randomised controlled trials of exercise-based interventions with at least six months of follow-up, compared with a no-exercise control
  • Adult men and women who have had a myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass graft or percutaneous coronary intervention, or have angina pectoris or coronary artery disease
Excluded
None stated

  • Effect Evidence synthesis Low certainty

    The Cochrane review is uncertain about the effect of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation on cardiovascular hospitalisation at 6 to 12 months: the risk ratio was 0.80 (95% CI 0.41 to 1.59), with a wide interval that includes considerable benefit as well as harm, rated low certainty. The abstract also reports substantial heterogeneity across trials for cardiovascular hospitalisations (I2 = 53%).

    Applies to Adult
    • Adult men and women who have had a myocardial infarction (MI), coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), or who have angina pectoris or coronary artery disease, in trials that compared exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation with a no-exercise control. The 85 trials included predominantly post-MI and post-revascularisation patients.
    • Randomised trials of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation, with exercise training alone or combined with psychosocial or educational interventions. The abstract does not describe the settings of the individual trials.
    • Trials from many countries; the abstract says 21 of the 85 trials were done in low- and middle-income countries.
    • Adults; the mean age across the included trials ranged from 47 to 77 years
    Follow-up The review split results into short-term (6 to 12 months), medium-term (more than 12 to 36 months) and long-term (more than 3 years) follow-up. The median longest follow-up was 12 months (range 6 months to 19 years).
    Certainty method
    GRADE assessment by the review authors, stated in the Cochrane review abstract for the primary outcomes at 6 to 12 months
    Limitations
    Adults with coronary heart disease in trials of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (exercise training alone or with psychosocial or educational interventions) against a no-exercise control. The trials were predominantly post-MI and post-revascularisation patients, and women were under 15% of participants overall. Trial reporting was poor overall, although the abstract says reporting quality improved over the last decade. Only the PubMed abstract was read; the PMC copy is not in the open-access subset. This is a result the review itself calls uncertain, so it does not show that the programmes help or harm on this outcome.
    Last checked
    2026-10-15
    Next evidence check due
    Not scheduled
    Sources and citations (4)

    1. Supports Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease

      Publication · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. · Published 2021-11-06 · DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001800.pub4 · PMID: 34741536 · PMCID: PMC8571912

      Locator
      Abstract, DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS, sentence 13, fragments 1 and 2
      How it applies
      Cardiovascular hospitalisation result and its certainty.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      c88744581358fff0e64fe1548ede864d301df2dc54ea65eb2ade91911c46ecb8
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    2. Supports Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease

      Publication · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. · Published 2021-11-06 · DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001800.pub4 · PMID: 34741536 · PMCID: PMC8571912

      Locator
      Abstract, DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS, sentence 14, fragment 1
      How it applies
      Heterogeneity across trials for cardiovascular hospitalisations.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      c88744581358fff0e64fe1548ede864d301df2dc54ea65eb2ade91911c46ecb8
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    3. Background Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease

      Publication · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. · Published 2021-11-06 · DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001800.pub4 · PMID: 34741536 · PMCID: PMC8571912

      Locator
      Abstract, DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS, sentence 4
      How it applies
      Number of trials and people.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      c88744581358fff0e64fe1548ede864d301df2dc54ea65eb2ade91911c46ecb8
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    4. Background Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease

      Publication · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. · Published 2021-11-06 · DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001800.pub4 · PMID: 34741536 · PMCID: PMC8571912

      Locator
      Abstract, SELECTION CRITERIA, sentences 1 and 2
      How it applies
      Trial and population criteria.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      c88744581358fff0e64fe1548ede864d301df2dc54ea65eb2ade91911c46ecb8
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

  • Effect Evidence synthesis Certainty not assessed

    The Cochrane review also reports longer follow-up results. At medium-term follow-up (more than 12 to 36 months) there may be little to no difference in all-cause mortality (risk ratio 0.90, 95% CI 0.80 to 1.02; 15 trials), myocardial infarction (1.07, 0.91 to 1.27; 12 trials), percutaneous coronary intervention (0.96, 0.69 to 1.35; 6 trials), coronary artery bypass graft (0.97, 0.77 to 1.23; 9 trials) and all-cause hospitalisation (0.92, 0.82 to 1.03; 9 trials), but a large reduction in cardiovascular mortality was found (0.77, 0.63 to 0.93; 5 trials); the evidence is uncertain for cardiovascular hospitalisation (0.92, 0.76 to 1.12; 3 trials). At long-term follow-up (more than 3 years) there may be little to no difference in all-cause mortality (0.91, 0.75 to 1.10), while exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation may result in a large reduction in cardiovascular mortality (0.58, 0.43 to 0.78; 8 trials) and myocardial infarction (0.67, 0.50 to 0.90; 10 trials); the evidence is uncertain for coronary artery bypass graft (0.66, 0.34 to 1.27; 4 trials) and percutaneous coronary intervention (0.76, 0.48 to 1.20; 3 trials). Each value is a risk ratio with its 95% confidence interval.

    Applies to Adult
    • Adult men and women who have had a myocardial infarction (MI), coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), or who have angina pectoris or coronary artery disease, in trials that compared exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation with a no-exercise control. The 85 trials included predominantly post-MI and post-revascularisation patients.
    • Randomised trials of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation, with exercise training alone or combined with psychosocial or educational interventions. The abstract does not describe the settings of the individual trials.
    • Trials from many countries; the abstract says 21 of the 85 trials were done in low- and middle-income countries.
    • Adults; the mean age across the included trials ranged from 47 to 77 years
    Follow-up The review split results into short-term (6 to 12 months), medium-term (more than 12 to 36 months) and long-term (more than 3 years) follow-up. The median longest follow-up was 12 months (range 6 months to 19 years).
    Certainty method
    Not assessed
    Limitations
    Adults with coronary heart disease in trials of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (exercise training alone or with psychosocial or educational interventions) against a no-exercise control. The trials were predominantly post-MI and post-revascularisation patients, and women were under 15% of participants overall. Trial reporting was poor overall, although the abstract says reporting quality improved over the last decade. Only the PubMed abstract was read; the PMC copy is not in the open-access subset. The review used GRADE only for the primary outcomes at 6 to 12 months, so these medium- and long-term results carry no certainty rating in the abstract. The abstract gives the number of trials behind each result.
    Last checked
    2026-10-15
    Next evidence check due
    Not scheduled
    Sources and citations (5)

    1. Supports Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease

      Publication · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. · Published 2021-11-06 · DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001800.pub4 · PMID: 34741536 · PMCID: PMC8571912

      Locator
      Abstract, DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS, sentences 15 and 16
      How it applies
      Medium-term results.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      c88744581358fff0e64fe1548ede864d301df2dc54ea65eb2ade91911c46ecb8
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    2. Supports Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease

      Publication · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. · Published 2021-11-06 · DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001800.pub4 · PMID: 34741536 · PMCID: PMC8571912

      Locator
      Abstract, DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS, sentences 17 and 18
      How it applies
      Long-term results.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      c88744581358fff0e64fe1548ede864d301df2dc54ea65eb2ade91911c46ecb8
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    3. Background Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease

      Publication · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. · Published 2021-11-06 · DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001800.pub4 · PMID: 34741536 · PMCID: PMC8571912

      Locator
      Abstract, AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS, sentence 2
      How it applies
      The authors' summary of longer-term benefits.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      c88744581358fff0e64fe1548ede864d301df2dc54ea65eb2ade91911c46ecb8
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    4. Background Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease

      Publication · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. · Published 2021-11-06 · DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001800.pub4 · PMID: 34741536 · PMCID: PMC8571912

      Locator
      Abstract, DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS, sentence 4
      How it applies
      Number of trials and people.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      c88744581358fff0e64fe1548ede864d301df2dc54ea65eb2ade91911c46ecb8
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    5. Background Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease

      Publication · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. · Published 2021-11-06 · DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001800.pub4 · PMID: 34741536 · PMCID: PMC8571912

      Locator
      Abstract, SELECTION CRITERIA, sentences 1 and 2
      How it applies
      Trial and population criteria.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      c88744581358fff0e64fe1548ede864d301df2dc54ea65eb2ade91911c46ecb8
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

  • Effect Evidence synthesis High certainty

    An updated Cochrane review of 85 randomised trials, which together randomised 23,430 people with coronary heart disease, compared exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation with a no-exercise control. At short-term follow-up (6 to 12 months) it found a large reduction in myocardial infarction (risk ratio 0.72, 95% CI 0.55 to 0.93; 22 trials; number needed to treat for an additional beneficial outcome 75, 95% CI 47 to 298), rated high certainty. It found little to no difference in coronary artery bypass graft (risk ratio 0.99, 95% CI 0.78 to 1.27; 20 trials), also rated high certainty.

    Applies to Adult
    • Adult men and women who have had a myocardial infarction (MI), coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), or who have angina pectoris or coronary artery disease, in trials that compared exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation with a no-exercise control. The 85 trials included predominantly post-MI and post-revascularisation patients.
    • Randomised trials of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation, with exercise training alone or combined with psychosocial or educational interventions. The abstract does not describe the settings of the individual trials.
    • Trials from many countries; the abstract says 21 of the 85 trials were done in low- and middle-income countries.
    • Adults; the mean age across the included trials ranged from 47 to 77 years
    Follow-up The review split results into short-term (6 to 12 months), medium-term (more than 12 to 36 months) and long-term (more than 3 years) follow-up. The median longest follow-up was 12 months (range 6 months to 19 years).
    Certainty method
    GRADE assessment by the review authors, stated in the Cochrane review abstract for the primary outcomes at 6 to 12 months
    Limitations
    Adults with coronary heart disease in trials of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (exercise training alone or with psychosocial or educational interventions) against a no-exercise control. The trials were predominantly post-MI and post-revascularisation patients, and women were under 15% of participants overall. Trial reporting was poor overall, although the abstract says reporting quality improved over the last decade. Only the PubMed abstract was read; the PMC copy is not in the open-access subset. The review gives GRADE ratings only for the primary outcomes at 6 to 12 months; moderate and low certainty outcomes are on separate claims.
    Last checked
    2026-10-15
    Next evidence check due
    Not scheduled
    Sources and citations (5)

    1. Supports Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease

      Publication · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. · Published 2021-11-06 · DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001800.pub4 · PMID: 34741536 · PMCID: PMC8571912

      Locator
      Abstract, DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS, sentence 11, fragments 1 to 3
      How it applies
      Myocardial infarction result and its certainty.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      c88744581358fff0e64fe1548ede864d301df2dc54ea65eb2ade91911c46ecb8
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    2. Supports Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease

      Publication · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. · Published 2021-11-06 · DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001800.pub4 · PMID: 34741536 · PMCID: PMC8571912

      Locator
      Abstract, DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS, sentence 12, fragment 2
      How it applies
      Coronary artery bypass graft result and its certainty.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      c88744581358fff0e64fe1548ede864d301df2dc54ea65eb2ade91911c46ecb8
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    3. Background Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease

      Publication · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. · Published 2021-11-06 · DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001800.pub4 · PMID: 34741536 · PMCID: PMC8571912

      Locator
      Abstract, AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS, sentence 1
      How it applies
      The authors' summary, including reduced risk of myocardial infarction.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      c88744581358fff0e64fe1548ede864d301df2dc54ea65eb2ade91911c46ecb8
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    4. Background Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease

      Publication · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. · Published 2021-11-06 · DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001800.pub4 · PMID: 34741536 · PMCID: PMC8571912

      Locator
      Abstract, DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS, sentence 4
      How it applies
      Number of trials and people.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      c88744581358fff0e64fe1548ede864d301df2dc54ea65eb2ade91911c46ecb8
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    5. Background Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease

      Publication · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. · Published 2021-11-06 · DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001800.pub4 · PMID: 34741536 · PMCID: PMC8571912

      Locator
      Abstract, SELECTION CRITERIA, sentences 1 and 2
      How it applies
      Trial and population criteria.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      c88744581358fff0e64fe1548ede864d301df2dc54ea65eb2ade91911c46ecb8
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

  • Effect Evidence synthesis Moderate certainty

    At the same short-term follow-up (6 to 12 months), the Cochrane review reports with moderate certainty that exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation likely results in a slight reduction in all-cause mortality (risk ratio 0.87, 95% CI 0.73 to 1.04; 25 trials; the interval includes 1) and a large reduction in all-cause hospitalisation (risk ratio 0.58, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.77; 14 trials; number needed to treat for an additional beneficial outcome 12, 95% CI 9 to 21). It reports that exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation likely results in little to no difference in cardiovascular mortality (risk ratio 0.88, 95% CI 0.68 to 1.14; 15 trials) and in percutaneous coronary intervention (risk ratio 0.86, 95% CI 0.63 to 1.19; 13 trials).

    Applies to Adult
    • Adult men and women who have had a myocardial infarction (MI), coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), or who have angina pectoris or coronary artery disease, in trials that compared exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation with a no-exercise control. The 85 trials included predominantly post-MI and post-revascularisation patients.
    • Randomised trials of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation, with exercise training alone or combined with psychosocial or educational interventions. The abstract does not describe the settings of the individual trials.
    • Trials from many countries; the abstract says 21 of the 85 trials were done in low- and middle-income countries.
    • Adults; the mean age across the included trials ranged from 47 to 77 years
    Follow-up The review split results into short-term (6 to 12 months), medium-term (more than 12 to 36 months) and long-term (more than 3 years) follow-up. The median longest follow-up was 12 months (range 6 months to 19 years).
    Certainty method
    GRADE assessment by the review authors, stated in the Cochrane review abstract for the primary outcomes at 6 to 12 months
    Limitations
    Adults with coronary heart disease in trials of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (exercise training alone or with psychosocial or educational interventions) against a no-exercise control. The trials were predominantly post-MI and post-revascularisation patients, and women were under 15% of participants overall. Trial reporting was poor overall, although the abstract says reporting quality improved over the last decade. Only the PubMed abstract was read; the PMC copy is not in the open-access subset. The abstract notes small study bias for all-cause hospitalisation. The all-cause mortality result is reported as a likely slight reduction, but its confidence interval includes no effect.
    Last checked
    2026-10-15
    Next evidence check due
    Not scheduled
    Sources and citations (5)

    1. Supports Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease

      Publication · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. · Published 2021-11-06 · DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001800.pub4 · PMID: 34741536 · PMCID: PMC8571912

      Locator
      Abstract, DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS, sentence 11, fragments 1, 4 and 5
      How it applies
      All-cause mortality and all-cause hospitalisation results and their certainty.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      c88744581358fff0e64fe1548ede864d301df2dc54ea65eb2ade91911c46ecb8
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    2. Supports Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease

      Publication · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. · Published 2021-11-06 · DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001800.pub4 · PMID: 34741536 · PMCID: PMC8571912

      Locator
      Abstract, DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS, sentence 12, fragments 1 to 3
      How it applies
      Cardiovascular mortality and percutaneous coronary intervention results and their certainty.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      c88744581358fff0e64fe1548ede864d301df2dc54ea65eb2ade91911c46ecb8
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    3. Background Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease

      Publication · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. · Published 2021-11-06 · DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001800.pub4 · PMID: 34741536 · PMCID: PMC8571912

      Locator
      Abstract, DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS, sentence 14, fragment 1
      How it applies
      Small study bias for all-cause hospitalisation.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      c88744581358fff0e64fe1548ede864d301df2dc54ea65eb2ade91911c46ecb8
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    4. Background Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease

      Publication · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. · Published 2021-11-06 · DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001800.pub4 · PMID: 34741536 · PMCID: PMC8571912

      Locator
      Abstract, DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS, sentence 4
      How it applies
      Number of trials and people.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      c88744581358fff0e64fe1548ede864d301df2dc54ea65eb2ade91911c46ecb8
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    5. Background Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease

      Publication · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. · Published 2021-11-06 · DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001800.pub4 · PMID: 34741536 · PMCID: PMC8571912

      Locator
      Abstract, SELECTION CRITERIA, sentences 1 and 2
      How it applies
      Trial and population criteria.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      c88744581358fff0e64fe1548ede864d301df2dc54ea65eb2ade91911c46ecb8
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

Clinical links

Each link reports what one cited claim says about one population. "Evaluated for" means studied, not shown to work. These links do not show that anything is effective or right for you.

Record details

Record id
cardio:cardiac-rehabilitation
Content hash
225622fc85b5b47a8eb54fb5e4bb7dc536ef4409052f6baeecdee39db82c34f5