Once a person has had a cardiac event, whether it is a full-blown heart attack or a spell in the hospital during which a stent is placed in a coronary artery, the risk of another episode is ever present. How can that possibility be reduced? One way is to participate in a good cardiac rehabilitation program.
Preventing a Repeat Heart Attack:
Cardiac rehab programs don’t always emphasize one important factor: Stress management techniques can dramatically lower the chance of a repeat heart attack. Recent research demonstrates this clearly.
Researchers at Duke Health randomly assigned 151 people who had suffered heart attacks, bypass surgery or other cardiac events to either a traditional cardiac rehabilitation program or to the same program plus 90 minutes a week of stress management. The cardiac rehab included a heart healthy diet, sensible exercise, and medications for cholesterol and blood pressure control.
How Well Did Cardiac Rehabilitation Work?
After three years, a third of those in the cardiac rehab group had experienced a repeat heart attack or other cardiovascular complication. These included hospitalization for chest pain, or death from any cause as well as stroke, heart attack or bypass surgery. In contrast, only 18 percent of those who had participated in the cardiac rehab plus stress management groups had such a complication.
Cardiac rehabilitation is worthwhile with or without the stress management component, according to the study. Both of these groups did much better than patients who opted out of cardiac rehab. About 47 percent of them suffered complications or died during the follow-up period.
Lead investigator Dr. James Blumenthal suggests that stress management should be included in cardiac rehab programs, although that is not currently standard practice. Patients striving to avoid a repeat heart attack should ask for help with stress management.
