The Impact of Covid-19 on Patients in Cardiac Rehabilitation Phase II

ABSTRACT

Introduction: COVID-19 significantly affected outpatient cardiac rehabilitation which is a central resource for patients recovering from cardiovascular disease. The aim of the study was to examine the impact of COVID-19 on Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) Phase II clinical outcomes. Method(s) A single-site retrospective chart review of CR Phase II patients who completed 12 or more visits during 2019 (pre-COVID) and 2020 (COVID) was performed. Depression was measured using the PHQ-9, functional capacity was measured by the 6-minute walk in distance (ft) and metabolic equivalents (METs), and quality of life (QOL) was measured by the Ferrans and Powers Index. Descriptive and linear mixed methods were used to analyze the data. Result(s) A total of 212 patients who were predominately male 67% and 66.5 (SD=10.8) years old were included. PHQ-9 results showed a significant interaction COVID*pre-post scores F(1, 119.66) = 4.66, p = 0.03. For the remaining scores, all results showed significant improvements in pre-post distance F(1, 151.90) = 226.92, p <.001;METs F(1, 180.13) = 138.7, p <.001;and QOL F(1, 145.32) = 5.89, p =0.02. Interactions were not significant for the three variables. QOL results showed significant differences in the COVID group with F(1, 239.12) = 6.13, p = 0.01. Conclusion(s) All four outcomes improved significantly in the pre-COVID and COVID sample. COVID significantly impacted depression PHQ-9 score change, with a pre-post improvement of 0.62 points in the pre-COVID group and 2.08 points during COVID. Finally, the mean overall QOL score was significantly lower in the COVID group than the pre-COVID group.