Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Mar 16, 2024; 12(8): 1382-1387
Published online Mar 16, 2024. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i8.1382
Latest updates on structure and recommendations of cardiac rehabilitation programs in chronic heart failure
Christos Kourek, Alexandros Briasoulis, Dimitrios E Magouliotis, John Skoularigis, Andrew Xanthopoulos
Christos Kourek, Medical School of Athens, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 15772, Greece
Alexandros Briasoulis, Department of Clinical Therapeutics, Alexandra Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 11528, Greece
Dimitrios E Magouliotis, Department of Surgery, University Hospital of Larissa, Larissa 41110, Greece
John Skoularigis, Andrew Xanthopoulos, Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Larissa, Larissa 41110, Greece
Author contributions: Kourek C and Skoularigis J contributed to the discussion and design of the manuscript; Kourek C, Briasoulis A, Magouliotis DE, Skoularigis J, and Xanthopoulos A contributed to the writing and editing the manuscript, illustrations, and review of the literature; Briasoulis A, Magouliotis DE, and Xanthopoulos A designed the overall concept and outline of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Andrew Xanthopoulos, MD, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Larissa, Mezourlo, Larissa 41110, Greece. andrewvxanth@gmail.com
Received: November 29, 2023
Peer-review started: November 29, 2023
First decision: January 15, 2024
Revised: January 24, 2024
Accepted: February 25, 2024
Article in press: February 25, 2024
Published online: March 16, 2024
Core Tip

Core Tip: Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is a medically supervised program designed to maintain or improve cardiovascular health of patients with heart failure (HF), recommended by guidelines. CR has been shown to be beneficial in HF, leading to improvements in central hemodynamic status and peripheral vascular, endothelial, and skeletal muscle function and, most significantly, in peak and submaximal exercise capacity, cardiorespiratory fitness, and quality of life. Main endpoints of a CR program include a wide spectrum of functional and psychological variables. Despite the strong recommendations in the guidelines, the attendance rates remain at low levels due to several barriers related to healthcare professionals, patients, and states.