Cardiovascular rehabilitation: Your best bet to a recovered heart

MANILA, Philippines — Heart diseases remain to be the biggest threat to Filipinos’ health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) mortality database, cardiovascular diseases (ischemic heart disease, stroke) is one of the top global causes of death.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) also supports this finding, as 2023 data reveals that heart diseases are the leading cause of mortality in the Philippines.

Despite these, hope is not lost as there is one procedure that can help Filipinos recover from or improve their health after heart disease: Cardiovascular rehabilitation.

Cardiovascular rehabilitation (also known as cardiac rehabilitation) is a medically-supervised, individually designed program that includes exercise, counseling and education.

Patients who may need cardiovascular rehabilitation include those who have recently suffered a heart attack, those with chest pain or stable angina, and those with chronic heart failure and peripheral artery disease.

According to a study involving more than 600,000 people from Brandeis University in Massachusetts, USA, cardiac rehab can cut your risk of subsequent heart attacks within a year by 50%. In another study of 1,821 heart attack survivors, 95% of those who took cardiac rehab classes were still alive three years later, compared with 46% of those who didn’t.

Rehab is also recommended for people who have had surgeries such as coronary artery bypass, valve replacement or repair, and those who have had procedures done like percutaneous coronary intervention and pacemaker insertion. It requires a multi-disciplinary approach in implementing each of the rehab phases.

This means that a patient will receive care, information and guidance from a team of healthcare professionals coming from different specialties. The rehab process will usually involve the patient’s attending physician and a cardiologist specializing in cardiovascular rehabilitation.

In the Philippines, there is still a great need to educate the public about the importance of cardiovascular rehab. Based on 2021 statistics from the Philippine Heart Association (PHA), only 10% to 15% of Filipino patients who have had heart procedures proceed