Participation in Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs Among Older Patients After Acute Myocardial Infarction.

Participation in Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs Among Older Patients After Acute Myocardial Infarction A recent clinical practice guideline strongly supports cardiac rehabilitation for patients after acute myocardial infarction (AMI).1 Cardiac rehabilitation programs are multifaceted outpatient interventions that include individualized exercise regimens, health education, and structured support focused on cardiovascular risk reduction and medication adherence.2 Patients typically attend 2 to 3 sessions weekly for up to 36 sessions. Cardiac rehabilitation improves survival after AMI3 and is associated with improvements in lifestyle, functional capacity, and quality of life for older adults.4,5 Despite these benefits, rates of referral and participation have traditionally been low, especially among older adults.6,7 Using a national quality improvement registry, we assessed rates of enrollment in cardiac rehabilitation, as well as completeness of participation (number of sessions attended), among older adults and compared characteristics between patients who did and did not participate after referral.