Relationship between functional class and left ventricular ejection fraction in patients with coronary heart disease who were candidates for cardiac rehabilitation

• Autor(a) principal: Albuquerque, Isabella Martins de
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: Garlet, Andrieli Barbieri, Cardoso, Dannuey Machado, Santos, Tamires Daros, Pereira, Sérgio Nunes
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Scientia Medica (Porto Alegre. Online)
• Texto Completo: https://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/scientiamedica/article/view/26652
• topic: coronary heart disease; myocardial revascularization; angioplasty; rehabilitation.; cardiopatia coronariana; revascularização miocárdica; angioplastia; reabilitação.

***Relationship between functional class and left ventricular ejection fraction in patients with coronary heart disease who were candidates for cardiac rehabilitation***AIMS: To assess the potential relation between the New York Heart Association functional class and left ventricular ejection fraction in coronary heart disease patients who were candidates for cardiac rehabilitation.METHODS: This is a retrospective cross-sectional study based on the analysis of medical records of coronary heart disease patients who were candidates for the Cardiac Rehabilitation Program of Hospital Universitário de Santa Maria, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Both male and female patients aged 50 to 65 were included, whereas patients with chronic renal failure, anemia, poor echocardiographic image quality, non-sinus rhythm, and also those individuals whose medical records lacked sufficient information were excluded. Data were collected from August 2015 to March 2016, and the information that made up the variables of interest was extracted from the medical records, such as: clinical and demographic data (sex, age, comorbidities, clinical diagnosis, surgical and drug treatment), left ventricular ejection fraction values obtained by echocardiography (conventional and tissue Doppler echocardiography), and functional class from the ergometric test. Statistical analysis was performed using Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Dunn’s post-hoc test.  The significance level was set at p<0.05.RESULTS: A total of 131 medical records were consecutively evaluated, of which 102 met the inclusion criteria. Mean age was 59.23±7.95 years and 70 (68.63%) patients were male, with a predominance of functional class I. There was an inverse relation between functional class and ejection fraction: the more advanced the functional class, the more compromised the cardiac performance (p=0.036).CONCLUSIONS: In this sample of patients with coronary heart disease who were candidates for cardiac rehabilitation, there was an inverse relation between left ventricular ejection fraction and functional class. This finding provides information about the limitations imposed by the disease on patient’s exercise capacity and heart function and can contribute to the development of a physical training program.