Abstract

This study focused on the effects of hospital supervision and type of prescribed home exercise in cardiac rehabilitation programs on aerobic fitness, anxiety, and depression. Men after myocardial infarction were randomly assigned to 4 exercise programs: The 1rst program consisted of purely hospital-based exercise. The 2nd and 3rd programs combined hospital and home exercise, including either bicycling or walking at home. In the 4th program, patients were encouraged to exercise at home, but were given no specific guidance. 52 patients finished the 8-week exercise program and 35 completed the psychologic questionnaires. At the end of the 8 weeks, there were significant differences in the programs effects on aerobic fitness. Purely hospital-supervised exercise and the combination of hospital-supervised bicycling with home walking increased aerobic fitness more than completely unsupervised exercise. Furthermore, there were differences in the programs effects on manifest anxiety. The combination of home and hospital bicycling was less beneficial than home walking and hospital bicyling or even completely unsupervised exercise at home. Results indicate that the degree of hospital supervision and the type of prescribed home exercise are important design features which may affect the succes of cardiac rehabilitation exercise programs. No effects of the different exercise programs on patients depression could be found. In general, a close relationship between aerobic fitness and anxiety or depression could not be demonstrated. Verf.-Referat