Effect of cardiac rehabilitation on autonomic function in patients with coronary artery bypass grafting: A systematic review

Cardiac autonomic function impaired after the surgical procedure of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) that may lead to adverse outcomes. Thus, therapies that enhance autonomic balance, whether pharmacological or otherwise, are therefore of interest in the management of CABG. The effect of cardiac rehabilitation on autonomic function are conflicted.

The aim of this systematic review is to explore the influence of cardiac rehabilitation on heart rate variability and heart rate recovery in post-CABG patients.

Databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and PEDro) were accessed for searching from inception to November 2020. Different keywords were used for coronary artery bypass grafting, cardiac rehabilitation, and heart rate variability (HRV). Randomised controlled trial with no minimum duration of rehabilitation were selected for inclusion.

Seven RCTs were selected for qualitative analysis which included 404 participants. The average age of participants ranging from 53 to 64 years. Intervention performed in majority of studies were aerobic exercise. Each RCTs showed affirmative results on HRV that indicated the improvement in time domain (SDNN, SDANN, RMSSD) and frequency domain (LF, HF, LF/HF) parameters.

Cardiac rehabilitation improves the autonomic function in patients with coronary artery bypass surgery.