Lifestyle and the importance of health education in the cardiac rehabilitation after myocardial revascularization surgery

Abstract

In the treatment of ischemic cardiopathy, the prevention has a main role and the modifications in the lifestyle are indispensable for the good prognosis of the disease. The goal of the study was to describe the lifestyle regarding the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, dietary habits and sedentary behaviors before myocardial revascularization surgery and during the period of cardiac rehabilitation in a private institution that did not comprise structured health education activities. This was a retrospective, observational study, with a qualitative approach, held with 50 patients submitted to cardiac rehabilitation (36 men and 14 women; age 61±12.74 years). The data were collected from clinical records of the pre-cardiac rehabilitation evaluation which consisted of clinical data and information referring to the patients’ lifestyle. Amongst the most prevalent co-morbidities in the sample, there were: the hypertension (n=24; 48%), the diabetes mellitus (n=18; 36%) and dyslipidemias (n=17; 34%). A high rate of smoke cessation (100%) and 58% of sedentary behaviors (n=29) was observed after the cardiac surgery. This same number (n=29; 58%) referred to have adhered to changes in dietary habits after the myocardial acute infarct. There was also an increase in the prevalence of alcohol consumption (n=21; 42%) after myocardial revascularization. We conclude with this research that a cardiac rehabilitation program should provide to their patients, health education actions, for a necessary and real change in lifestyle habits, with the presence of a multidisciplinary team.