Atlanta, GA - Just over a third of MI survivors participate in outpatient cardiac rehabilitation programs, according to a survey of people across the US reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one that discloses continuing shortfalls in implementing an important guidelines-recommended secondary-prevention strategy [1]. Men were more likely to engage in a program than women and married persons more so than singles, and the likelihood went up with educational level, according to the report in the February 1, 2008 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The findings, which are largely consistent with other studies of the subject, derive from telephone interviews conducted in 2005 with more than 129 000 randomly selected adults in 21 states and the District of Columbia as part of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey. Of those interviewed, 7230, or 4.2%, reported they had been told by a health professional that they had experienced "a heart attack, also called a myocardial infarction." Of those who reported whether they had also received outpatient cardiac rehab services, 34.7% said they had participated in such a program.

Rehab participation went up steadily with household income but didn't significantly vary by employment status or whether the patient had health-insurance coverage, according to the analysis.

Among the reasons behind the shortfalls, the CDC report speculates, is the possibility that "physicians might not be aware of the importance of cardiac rehabilitation for patients after a heart attack and therefore might not refer patients to rehabilitation services."

The report concludes, "Programs and policies directed at increasing the number of patients who are referred to and participate in cardiac rehabilitation need to be strengthened. Future research should focus on identifying barriers to cardiac rehabilitation participation and interventions to improve referral and receipt of outpatient rehabilitation services."