Rehab for heart patients safe French study

NEW YORK, Dec 1 (Reuters) Exercise training for heart patients is safe, a new study shows. Among 25,420 patients undergoing rehabilitation after heart surgery, heart attack or for other causes, just 20 severe events occurred over a one-year period, and none were fatal, French researchers report.

''Our results concern supervised exercise training, but they should induce cardiac patients to be more active and to practice physical activity on a regular basis,'' Dr Bruno Pavy of the Service de Readaptation Cardiaque at the Center Hospitalier in Machecoul, France and colleagues write.

While the benefits of exercise for heart patients are well established, vigorous activity also carries potential risks, for example chest pain, abnormal rhythms, or even heart attack, Pavy and colleagues note in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Published studies have found cardiac rehab to be safe, but are outdated, given progress in caring for heart disease patients.

To provide an up-to-date understanding of the risks involved, Pavy's team had 56 cardiac rehabilitation centers in France report any adverse events in patients during 2003. These were defined as any event that occurred during exercise or within an hour afterwards and included fainting, chest pain, severe arrhythmias, or any event requiring CPR, use of intravenous drugs, or immediate transfer to a specialized hospital unit for coronary patients.

Twenty complications occurred, five during stress tests and 15 during exercise training. Most involved stoppage of blood flow in the heart in patients implanted with devices to keep blood vessels open. Six patients required surgery to open up a blocked blood vessel.

Over time, the risk of heart attack and other serious events during cardiac rehab has fallen steadily, Pavy and his team note.

This is most likely due to improvements in drug and surgical treatment of heart patients.

However, they add, it is ''difficult to predict'' which patients will suffer complications during testing; just 3 of the patients who had complications in the current study were considered high risk.

REUTERS SY PM0901