Health Headlines: Cardiac rehab increasing quadruple bypass survival

Mich. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Researchers say a means of reducing the risk of death years after heart surgery is being underutilized, and they say more effort is needed to increase participation.

You could say Sheryl Duda is a model patient – she has diligently attended more than 36 cardiac rehab sessions since having quadruple bypass surgery after a sudden heart attack.

“I was in intensive care, in SICU for six weeks. I was very weak; I was very tired. They didn’t think I was gonna make it,” Sheryl recalls.

She credits rehab with saving her life, and a four-year research study by Michigan Medicine backs that up. Sheryl is representative of the 8,000 participants. The study found that patients who attended cardiac rehab after bypass surgery improved their survival rate by five to six percent. Those attending more sessions had greater survival benefits. Sheryl did the recommended 36.

“The more sessions you attended, the greater the benefit – at least in terms of, kind of, long-term survival,” explains Professor of Cardiac Surgery at Michigan Medicine, Michael Thompson, MD.

Despite the benefits, Sheryl is the exception, not the rule. Only 12 percent of the patients in the study completed all 36 sessions.

Sheryl tells Ivanhoe, “It was very hard in the beginning. It kept getting easier and easier as I went on, but in the beginning, it was very difficult because I was in a wheelchair; I couldn’t walk.”

Sheryl was fortunate that her partner Mark brought her to every session. She says he is her motivation to keep going.

The study also found that vulnerable populations have lower rates of attendance, which affects them benefiting from the treatment. Researchers say more efforts are needed to close the gap between referrals and participation.

Contributors to this news report include Hillary Rubin, Producer; Zach Lang, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor.