ABSTRACT
Background: Refractory angina is a clinical diagnosis which implies to chronic pain due to coronary artery insufficiency and it is often resistant to routine cardiac treatment. The present study conducted to compare changes in refractory angina frequencies during 7 weeks treatment by enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients with and without diabetes. Methods: In this retrospective study, 94 CAD patients (30 diabetics vs. 64 nondiabetics) who referred to cardiac rehabilitation department of Imam Ali Hospital of Kermanshah, Iran, during January 2006–2014 were assessed. The interventional method was EECP and medical records and frequencies of self-reported chest pain were research instruments. Data were analyzed through Chi-square test, mixed repeated measures, and Bonferroni test. Results: Frequencies of pain in both diabetic and nondiabetic groups during 7 weeks had linear reduction, but this reduction was significant only among nondiabetic patients (P < 0.0005). Furthermore, the significant reduction in frequencies of pain among this group begins after the 5th week. Discussion: Diabetes is one of the obstacles to the successful control of pain frequencies by the EECP in patients with CAD. Future studies may pay attention to the confounding role of diabetes in improving the severity of chest pain.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To assess the roles of demographic factors, actual and perceived risk factors, and perceived control in the referral to cardiac rehabilitation (CR) after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data related to 312 CABG patients in a hospital of the Western part of Iran, gathered through demographics and actual risk factors' checklist, open single item of perceived heart risk factors, life stressful events scale, and perceived control questionnaire. Data analyzed by binary logistic regression. Results: The results showed that only 8.3% of CABG patients refer to CR. The facilitators of this referral included official employment (P < 0.05), coronary history (P = 0.016), and hyperlipidemia (P = 0.030) but more distance to the CR center (P = 0.042) and perceived physiological risk factor (P = 0.025) are concerned as the barriers for the referral to CR. Conclusion: Providing appropriate awareness about the benefits of CR for patients with regard to their job status, coronary history, and perception about the illness risk factors can be effective in referral to CR. In addition, the presence of CR centers in towns and facilitated achievement to these centers can play a significant role in patients' participation.
ABSTRACT
Background: The study was done to investigate the role of perceived heart risk factors (PHRFs) in the prediction of psychological symptoms of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) patients. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 124 CR patients referred to Kermanshah Hospital of Imam Ali were assessed during April–July 2015. PHRFs scale and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress scale-21 used for data collection. The data were analyzed using linear multiple regression analysis. Results: The mean age of samples (69.4% male) was 58.9 ± 9.7 years. The results of regression analysis evidenced that there is no significant relationship between any of the PHRFs with depression and anxiety (P > 0.05); however, biological (P = 0.018) and psychological (P = 0.019) risk factors significantly can predict stress. The model generally can explain 6.4% of the stress variance. Conclusion: PHRFs are included some significant predictors for experienced stress among the CR patients. Given that the biological and psychological risk factors are more effective in experienced stress by the patients, it is recommended that specialists pay more attention to the potential psychological outcomes of this group of patients.