Effect of Cardiac Rehabilitation Program on the Quality of Life in Egyptian Patients after Primary Percutaneous Coronary Angioplasty: Comparison between Elderly and Young Adults

Abstract Background: Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation is un-derutilized in patients with recentmyocardial infarction, par-ticularly in the elderly. The ageing biology ofthis senior popula-tion is definitely unique, and they are more likely to experience different consequences for which cardiac rehabilitation can be especially useful. Aim of Study: This study aimed to investigate the effect of a 12-week cardiac rehabilitation program on the quality of life of two age groups with recent myocardial infarction who underwent primary coronary angioplasty. Patients and Methods: The present study was conduct-ed on 50 patients divided into two groups; Group 1 included those aged z65 years and Group 2 included patients aged <65 years. Both groups underwent cardiac rehabilitation between May 2018 and August 2020. Quality of life assessment was performed using the RAND-36 questionnaire, while depression screening was performed using the PHQ-9 questionnaire. Results: Both groups showed improvement in quality of life after the completion of the cardiac rehabilitation program. The younger group showed better improvement in the domains related to physical functioning, general health, role limitation due to physical health, and energy/fatigue, and also showed better improvement in depressive symptoms, dyslipidemia, and left ventricular ejection fraction, whereas the senior group showed better improvement in role limitation due to emotional problems. Conclusion: Exercise training in a comprehensive CR pro-gram improves the quality of life of young and elderly patients. The young population improved mainly in the domains relat-ed to physical health, while the elderly group improved in the emotional domain in the quality of life questionnaires.