The psychosocial and physical impact of exercise rehabilitation following coronary artery bypass surgery

A number of studies attest to the physical and psychosocial benefits of exercise rehabilitation following myocardial infarction (MI). There is substantially less evidence for rehabilitation following coronary artery bypass (CAB) surgery. In the present study CAB patients were allocated either to a comprehensive ten week exercise based rehabilitation programme or to a routine care condition; psychological well being, psychosocial adjustment and exercise tolerance were assessed before and after treatment. It was found that only the rehabilitation patients improved significantly in terms of self reported measures of general psychological morbidity, happiness, return to family life, and physical capacity. Further the rehabilitation patients showed greater improvement than the routine care patients on measures of well being, social interaction, uptake of household chores, sexual activity, pursuit of hobbies, and fear of exercise. Exercise based rehabilitation would appear to benefit CAB patients over and above changes contingent on routine care or the passage of time. Further research is required to establish whether such benefits persist.