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. 2022 Sep 29;14(19):4048.
doi: 10.3390/nu14194048.

Effects of Cardiac Rehabilitation and Diet Counselling on Adherence to the Mediterranean Lifestyle in Patients after Myocardial Infarction

Marko Novaković  1   2 , Uroš Rajkovič  3 , Daniel Košuta  1   2 , Jure Tršan  1 , Zlatko Fras  1   2 , Borut Jug  1   2
Affiliations

Effects of Cardiac Rehabilitation and Diet Counselling on Adherence to the Mediterranean Lifestyle in Patients after Myocardial Infarction

Marko Novaković et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Adherence to the Mediterranean lifestyle—as captured by the Medlife Index Questionnaire (i.e., encompassing a Mediterranean diet as well as other aspects of healthy living, such as food preparation, physical activity, and socializing)—has been associated with reduced cardiovascular events in healthy individuals. In the present study, we sought to determine the adherence to, and the effect of comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation on, Mediterranean lifestyle adherence in patients after myocardial infarction. We included 121 patients (mean age, 55 years; women, 37%) undergoing comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation—i.e., exercise training 3 times per week for 12 weeks plus dedicated workshops promoting the Mediterranean lifestyle. Before and after cardiac rehabilitation, patients completed the Medlife Index Questionnaire. High baseline adherence was associated with favourable glucose (5.39 vs. 6.1 mmol/L; p < 0.001), triglycerides (1.1 vs. 1.5 mmol/L; p = 0.002), and HDL cholesterol levels (1.32 vs. 1.12 mmol/L; p = 0.032). More importantly, the Medlife Score significantly improved following comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation in patients with low baseline adherence (from 13.8 to 16.7 points; p < 0.001), but not in patients with high baseline adherence (from 19.4 to 18.8 points; p = 0.205). Our findings suggested that Mediterranean lifestyle promotion during cardiac rehabilitation improved adherence to the Mediterranean lifestyle, especially in low-adherence patients.

Keywords: Mediterranean diet; Mediterranean lifestyle; cardiac rehabilitation; coronary artery disease; lipid status; myocardial infarction; physical activity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Changes in the Mediterranean food consumption subdomains after the cardiac rehabilitation programme.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Changes in the Mediterranean dietary subdomains after the cardiac rehabilitation programme.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Changes in the social habits subdomains after the cardiac rehabilitation programme.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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