Impact of Educational Interventions to Foster Health in Patients Undergoing Cardiac Rehabilitation: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases represent the leading cause of death worldwide, and education interventions are an effective measure to control modifiable risk factors in patients undergoing cardiac rehabilitation; therefore, studying this phenomenon allows expanding the tools to face this situation. Objective: To determine the impact of educational interventions to foster health in patients undergoing cardiac rehabilitation. Materials and methods: A scientific literature review was conducted in the PubMed, SciELO, LILACS, EBSCO, MEDES, CUIDEN, Dialnet, ScienceDirect and CUIDATGE databases, based on the PRISMA statement proposal for systematic reviews, registered in the Prospero database (CRD42023398444). The Jadad scale was used for the methodological assessment, according to the peer approach. Results: The initial search yielded 14,849 publications, with 10 of them meeting the inclusion criteria. The mean age of the sample population was 63 years old, male gender. Telemedicine and education software design were resources to implement the interventions, finding a reduction in hospitalizations for cardiac reasons. Regarding mental health, long-term reductions in anxiety and depression were found. Conclusions: The time until the first cardiovascular hospitalization was 502 (469-535) days in the Intervention Group, against 445 (400-491) days in the Control Group. When evaluating medication adherence, it was evidenced that 94 % of the participants had improvements. Regarding cardiovascular risk stratification, both the intervention (26 %) and the control (6 %) groups shifted to the lower-risk class.