Abstract Body (Do not enter title and authors here): Introduction/Background: Remote cardiac rehabilitation is becoming more popular, but most are exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation programs, and online intensive cardiac rehabilitation (ICR) programs that include not only exercise training but also dietary guidance, stress management, and group support have not been widespread.
Research Questions/Hypothesis: Whether high adherence and improvement of CAD risk factors demonstrated for the online ICR program.
Goals/Aims: We assessed the program adherence by participation rate as the primary endpoint and physical findings, typical CAD risks and nutritional indices as the secondary endpoint.
Methods/Approach: The J-ICR program provides online instruction using Zoom (San Jose, CA: Zoom Video Communications Inc.). The program consisted of four parts: aerobic exercise training, dietary education for the Japan diet, stress management training through mindfulness, and group support (10 participants per group) for 3 hours per session, once a week for 12 weeks (36 hours total). Twenty-two patients were enrolled and adherence to the program was examined. Changes in CAD risk factors were also analyzed.
Results/Data: After excluding 3 patients who withdrew consent before the program, the current study population consisted of 19 male participants. The mean age was 66 years old, 95% had hypertension, 37% had diabetes mellites and all had hyperlipidemia. Eight patients had myocardial infarction and 15 cases of angina pectoris. The average participation rate of the program was 90.2% and there was no drop out during the program. As the secondary endpoint, body weight （69.2kg vs. 68.2kg; p=0.02), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (126.8mmHg vs. 121.4mmHg; p<0.01 and 79.5mmHg vs. 77.6mmHg; p=0.18), LDL cholesterol (78.9mg/dl vs 77.6mg/dl; p=0.68), HbA1c (6.3% vs. 6.4%; p=0.39), and amount of sodium intake (9.5 g/day vs. 9.5g/day; p=0.68) and total energy intake (2,137kcal/day vs. 2,076kcal/day; p=0.25).
Conclusion: The J-ICR program is feasible and may yield improvements in CAD risk factors such as body weight and systolic blood pressure. Since this is a pilot study to explore the feasibility of the online J-ICR, its secondary prevention effect should be verified with appropriately powered randomized trials at multiple centers.