Simon Fraser University is expanding research that found interactive internet-based cardiac rehabilitation can help save rural lives.
SFU kinesiologist Scott Lear and his research team learned in a 2007 pilot project that delivering virtual cardiac rehabilitation programs (vCRP) to people in their homes is as effective as hospital-based rehab.
Participants have access to one-on-one chat sessions with a nurse, dietitian and exercise specialist, downloadable exercise heart-rate monitoring, education and data monitoring of their blood pressure, weight and glucose.
Many rural residents do not have access to cardio rehab programs because rural hospitals don’t have them.
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“Less than a quarter of eligible patients attend hospital-based CRP even though these programs reduce the risk of death from heart disease by 25 percent,” said Lear.
“Geographical distance from hospital-based CRP is the main reason why people don’t participate.”
Lear is now recruiting 74 B.C. patients with cardio vascular disease for the study.
The smaller 2007 study analyzed the impact of vCRP on 15 people who were on a waiting list to receive CRP at a hospital. The study found that their exercise capacity was nearly double that of a control group’s after 12 weeks. Their cholesterol, blood pressure and body weight improvements were comparable to those of hospital-based CRP participants.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation of B.C. and Yukon provided a grant of $284,000 for the new research.
