Cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation in the elderly: evidence for cardiac rehabilitation after myocardial infarction or chronic heart failure

Submitted: May 24, 2016
Accepted: May 24, 2016
Published: June 22, 2016
Abstract Views: 7364
PDF: 4872
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Authors

Cardiac rehabilitation in the elderly today often represents a utopia. The international scientific literature takes little into account this type of prescription for old people, although they represent a large and growing proportion of cardiac patients, with acute coronary syndrome or heart failure, which we have to manage in everyday life. Furthermore, interventions of health education, clinical follow up, rehospitalisation prevention and prescription of tailored exercise, are sometimes more necessary in this kind of patients, given the presence of multimorbidity, functional dependence, frailty, sarcopenia, social neglect. Most of the data on the feasibility, safety and efficacy of cardiac rehabilitation are favourable, but they are few and apparently not strong enough to convince the medical community. Therefore is necessary to join efforts to identify the geriatric patient's peculiarities and plan a suitable program of cardiac rehabilitation, which takes into account the multi-dimensionality and complexity of typical problems of the elderly, for which the classical cardiac outcomes can be limited.

Riassunto

La riabilitazione cardiologica nel paziente anziano rappresenta ad oggi in molte realtà una utopia. La letteratura scientifica internazionale prende poco in considerazione questo tipo di prescrizione nei soggetti in età avanzata, per quanto essi rappresentino una grande e crescente quota dei pazienti cardiopatici con sindrome coronarica acuta o scompenso cardiaco. Inoltre proprio su questa tipologia di pazienti interventi di educazione sanitaria, monitoraggio clinico e prescrizione di esercizio fisico personalizzato, risultano più necessari, data la presenza di multimorbilità, dipendenza funzionale, fragilità, sarcopenia, isolamento sociale. La maggior parte dei dati su fattibilità, sicurezza ed efficacia della riabilitazione cardiologica dopo infarto miocardico e nello scompenso sono favorevoli, ma risultano limitati nella numerosità delle casistiche e non condotti su pazienti assimilabili a quelli del mondo reale. E’ necessario dunque identificare le peculiarità del paziente geriatrico e pianificare e personalizzare un programma di riabilitazione cardiologica che tenga in considerazione la multidimensionalità e la complessità dei problemi tipici del soggetto anziano, per il quale gli outcome cardiologici abituali possono risultare limitati o non significativi.

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How to Cite

Fattirolli, Francesco, and Alessandra Pratesi. 2016. “Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation in the Elderly: Evidence for Cardiac Rehabilitation After Myocardial Infarction or Chronic Heart Failure”. Monaldi Archives for Chest Disease 84 (1-2). https://doi.org/10.4081/monaldi.2015.731.