What are the benefits of exercise training and cardiac rehabilitation for patients with Ischemic Heart Disease?
Multiple controlled clinical trials have examined the benefits of exercise training and cardiac rehabilitation in patients with IHD. Most of these studies have been relatively small, but in aggregate they demonstrate that regular exercise reduces mortality in patients with IHD. A systematic review and meta-analysis published in 2004 examined 48 RCTs of exercise interventions in a total of 8940 patients with IHD. Exercise training resulted in a 20% reduction in all-cause mortality and a 26% reduction in total cardiac mortality; favorable but nonsignificant trends were noted in nonfatal MI, CABG, and percutaneous coronary revascularization procedures.