Background: Despite considerable efforts to encourage participation, even in some developed countries,\nproportion of patients participating in institution-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programs remained sub-optimal.\nThe present study was designed to investigate the acceptability of community health service center (CHSC)-based\nCardiac Rehabilitation (CR), and examine its effectiveness in terms of changes in quality of life (QOL), psychological\nstate and exercise capacity.\nMethods: A consecutive series of eligible patients was recruited from the health registration system of two CHSCs\nin Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China. Patients in intervention site were provided with CR (CR-group) while patients in\nnon-intervention site were offered the usual care (UC-group). Data regarding health-related QOL (HRQoL),\npsychological state and exercise capacity (6-min walk test = 6MWT) were collected and compared at baseline\nand at 6 months post-intervention.\nResults: Among invited patients eligible for CR program, 65.3% participated, while 5.3% of the participants dropped\nout during follow-up. Patients in CR-group showed significant decrease in the scores for anxiety and depression as per\nthe Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), along with marked increases in the Short-Form Health Survey\n(SF-12)-based Physical (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) scores. Moreover, the measurement of\n6MWT showed a significant increase of 57.42 m walking distance among CR patients in contrast with a slight\nincrease among UC patients.\nConclusions: Given the high participation and low withdrawal along with considerable improvements in HRQoL,\npsychological state and exercise capacity, CHSC was likely to be the optimal setting for implementing CR for\npatients with CHD in China.
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