Rehab training cuts heart attack risk factor

April 18, 2004

Last Updated: 2004-04-16 16:27:03 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Participating in a cardiac rehabilitation

program for just 3 months can help patients with heart disease reduce

blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker linked to heart

attack and stroke, new research indicates.

Treatment with cholesterol-lowering drugs has been shown to reduce CRP

levels. The new findings suggest another way that patients can reduce

their CRP levels, lead author Dr. V. Milani and colleagues, from

the Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans, note.

As reported in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the

researchers compared the CRP levels of 235 patients who participated in

a rehabilitation program with those of 42 similar patients who did not.

In addition to CRP levels, body fat, obesity status, and exercise

capacity were determined before and after the program was implemented.

Enrollment in the rehabilitation program had a number of beneficial

effects, including a significant drop in body fat, an enhanced exercise

capacity, and an improvement in obesity status. In the comparison group,

by contrast, no beneficial effects were seen.

Rehab patients experienced a 36 percent drop in their average CRP level,

the authors observe. Moreover, the CRP reduction achieved was not

influenced by whether the patient had lost weight or was receiving

cholesterol-lowering drugs. No significant change in CRP levels was seen

in the comparison group.

Milani's team concludes that " in addition to receiving appropriate (drug

therapy), patients...should be routinely referred to cardiac

rehabilitation and exercise training. "

SOURCE: Journal of the American College of Cardiology, March 14, 2004.

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