The effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation in non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy patients: A pilot study

Background/Purpose We aimed to investigate the efficacy of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) through parameters of cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) and echocardiography in non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) patients. Methods We retrospectively identified non-ischemic DCM patients through medical records (between October 2011 and October 2018) in rehabilitation outpatient-clinics. Patients were divided into rehabilitation and control groups. Patients in the rehabilitation group eligible for inclusion had CR for 3–6 months. Control group patients were without rehabilitation. We recorded CPET and echocardiography parameters at the baseline and follow-up time-points. For safety evaluation, we investigated all adverse effects during training sessions. We utilized Mann–Whitney U test for between- and Wilcoxon signed-rank test for within-group comparisons. Results Twenty-five patients (14 in rehabilitation and 11 in control group) were included. In the rehabilitation group, significantly increased peak V ˙ O 2 /kg, peak V ˙ O 2 %, peak workload and peak O2 pulse were observed after completing CR, and echocardiographic parameters including left ventricular ejection fraction and end-systolic volume. Rehabilitation group patients demonstrated better improvement (change from the baseline) in peak V ˙ O 2 /kg, peak V ˙ O 2 % and peak workload vs. control. No adverse effects during rehabilitation trainings were observed. Conclusion For non-ischemic DCM, rehabilitation led to superior cardiopulmonary outcomes vs. no rehabilitation, without adverse effects.