Heart Failure and Heart Valve Disease | Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Rehabilitation

Introduction

The session looks at cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation. Although the topics discussed apply to both primary and secondary prevention, the main focus for this session is on secondary prevention.

By the end of this session you will:

• know the definition of cardiac rehabilitation and be aware of the national guidelines
• understand the core components of cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation
• be aware of the British Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (BACPR) standards
• have an understanding of the challenges involved

Evidence

There are around 7.4 million people living with heart and circulatory diseases in the UK. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is largely preventable.

Priority patient groups are:

• acute coronary syndrome
• revascularisation
• heart failure

Completing a Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation Programme (CPRP) is a cost-effective intervention that can achieve:

• reduction in hospital readmission rate
• improvement in health-related quality of life
• risk reduction in cardiovascular mortality
• increased adherence to cardioprotective medication  
• improvement in self-management