Three Weeks of Inpatient Cardiac Rehabilitation Improves Metabolic Exercise Data Combined With Cardiac and Kidney Indexes Scores for Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction

• Published in: Circulation Reports 2023/06/09, Vol.5(6), pp.231-237
• Main Authors: Sakurai, Shinichiro, Murata, Makoto, Yanai, Saya, Nitta, Shogo, Yamashita, Yuhei, Shitara, Tatsunori, Kazama, Hiroko, Ueda, Masanori, Kobayashi, Yasuyuki, Namasu, Yoshihisa, Adachi, Hitoshi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cardiopulmonary exercise test; Heart Failure; Heart failure rehospitalization; Inpatient cardiac rehabilitation; Metabolic Exercise data combined with Cardiac and Kidney Indexes (MECKI) score; Original article
• ISSN: 2434-0790; 2434-0790
• DOI: 10.1253/circrep.CR-23-0016

Background: Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) has a high mortality rate, and cardiac rehabilitation programs (CRP) reduce HFrEF rehospitalization and mortality rates. Some countries attempt 3 weeks of inpatient CRP (3w In-CRP) for cardiac diseases. However, whether 3w In-CRP reduces the prognostic parameter of the Metabolic Exercise data combined with Cardiac and Kidney Indexes (MECKI) score is unknown. Therefore, we investigated whether 3w In-CRP improves MECKI scores in patients with HFrEF.Methods and Results: This study enrolled 53 patients with HFrEF who participated in 30 inpatient CRP sessions, consisting of 30 min of aerobic exercise twice daily, 5 days a week for 3 weeks, between 2019 and 2022. Cardiopulmonary exercise tests and transthoracic echocardiography were performed, and blood samples were collected, before and after 3w In-CRP. MECKI scores and cardiovascular (CV) events (heart failure rehospitalization or death) were evaluated. The MECKI score improved from a median 23.34% (interquartile range [IQR] 10.21–53.14%) before 3w In-CRP to 18.66% (IQR 6.54–39.94%; P