Ensuring that heart patients get automatically referred [for rehabilitation programs] as they're leaving the hospital can make a difference, argues Sherry Grace, of York University and the University Health Network, and her colleagues in a paper published Monday in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, wrote the Hamilton Spectator, the Waterloo Region Record, the Canadian Press, and other websites Feb. 17:

People who have had chest pain or angina could also benefit, she says, and congenital heart patients are being tested to see how much rehab can help them, too.

"Rehab itself costs only $1,500 per patient, whereas a bypass surgery, for example, can cost $40,000 and up," said Grace, director of research for the cardiovascular rehabilitation and prevention program at Peter Munk Cardiac Centre. "So if we are by this $1,500 preventing a lot more bypass surgeries and re-hospitalizations down the road, it's a real win-win in terms of the cost benefit and the health-economics of chronic disease management and cardiac rehab."

The team studied 2,635 patients with coronary artery disease at 11 Ontario hospitals. The patients filled out surveys while in the hospital, their medical charts were studied, and more than 1,800 patients completed a follow-up survey a year later.

The original post about the study is available in the Research News section.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile – York University’s daily e-bulletin.