Yoga-based rehabilitation as beneficial as conventional cardiac rehabilitation for patients

New Delhi: According to a new study, a yoga-based rehabilitation program for heart attack patients is as safe and beneficial as conventional cardiac rehab therapy.

The results of this five-year study were presented in the scientific session of the American Heart Association in Chicago this Saturday. It has been funded by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and the Medical Research Council (UK).

The study compared the effectiveness of yoga-based cardiac rehabilitation (Yoga-CaRe) with the improvement of standardized care (ESC) in patients with heart attacks on clinical outcomes such as death, seizures recurrent heart disease, stroke, Dr. Ambuj Roy, professor of cardiology at AIIMS.

The study found that Yoga-CaRe could be an alternative to conventional cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programs and meet the unmet needs of India and other countries.

The study was conducted in 24 centers in India and covered nearly 4,000 patients at the time of discharge from the hospital or immediately after, after a heart attack.

Patients were randomized to follow a structured Yoga-CaRe program including meditation. , breathing exercises and heart-shaped yoga postures, as well as lifestyle tips. The control group received the usual lifestyle tips.

The trial demonstrated that Yoga-CaRe is safe, achievable and significantly improves the quality of life, and that it resumes daily activities similar to those that prevailed before the heart attack, said Dr. Roy. [19659002] Of the patients who attended at least 10 or more of the 13 yoga sessions planned, the Yoga-CaRe program improved clinical outcomes by reducing the number of deaths and the number of hospitalizations, suggesting a potential dose-response relationship.

Professor Prabhakaran, Vice President of the Foundation for Public Health of India (PHFI) and lead researcher of the study, said the prevalence of ischemic heart disease in India had increased by more than 50% and absolute numbers, from 10 million in 1990 24 million in 2016.

"The Yoga-CaRe test, the largest test on yoga as well as on cardiac rehabilitation, showed that the potential of yoga was an alternative conventional CR programs and meeting the unmet need for cardiac rehabilitation in low- and middle-income countries is safe, relatively inexpensive, does not require a complex, culturally improves the quality of life, "said Prabhakaran.

Professor Sanjay Kinra, Chief, Epidemiology, School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, co-principal investigator According to this study, thanks to improvements in cardiac care, most people survive a crisis heart and focus is now on improving the quality of life of heart attack survivors so they can readjust better after such a catastrophic event.

"This is especially true in India, where heart attacks tend to occur at a very young age." While waiting for an official peer review, the preliminary results of our essay suggest that a rehabilitation program yoga-based heart could improve the quality of life and promote a quicker return to normal activities, "he said.

Traditional cultural practices are often perceived with suspicion by the traditional medical community.

This important yoga test carried out according to the highest scientific standards highlights the potential of traditional practices to play a complementary role in the provision of medical care, particularly because of the high cost of chronic disease management. said Kinra. .

"This historical study shows that the use of yoga as a CR tool is effective in improving the quality of life and reducing cardiovascular events in those who participated in at least 75% of sessions.

yoga has gained immense popularity. national and international as a tool for health promotion, especially after the proclamation of 21 June as the International Day of Yoga by the United Nations. day medicine requires evidence of benefits so that interventions can be better accepted, particularly by the medical research community. This study is a step in that direction. I hope this study will spawn several trials of this magnitude and rigorously done in other diseases where yoga can be potentially beneficial, he said.

The Yoga-CaRe program is an amalgam of generic yoga and lifestyle practices influenced by both yogic and modern philosophy. scientific evidence through a systematic process.

The program is designed to be accepted by people of all religions / sects and is safe for patients.

The authors reported that the preliminary results of the trial revealed significant changes in the quality of life and return to normal activities after a heart attack in patients who were enrolled in the Yoga-CaRe program.

However, there was no change in smoking cessation and adherence to drug treatment.

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