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Review
. 2024 Jan;32(1):14-22.
doi: 10.1007/s12471-023-01832-w. Epub 2023 Nov 20.

Cardiac rehabilitation for patients with obesity: lessons learned from the OPTICARE XL trial

Iris den Uijl  1   2 , Madoka Sunamura  2 , Rutger M W Brouwers  3 , Henk J Stam  1 , Eric Boersma  4 , Rita J G van den Berg-Emons  1 , Nienke Ter Hoeve  5   6
Affiliations
Review

Cardiac rehabilitation for patients with obesity: lessons learned from the OPTICARE XL trial

Iris den Uijl et al. Neth Heart J. 2024 Jan.

Abstract

Obesity is a known and commonly encountered risk factor for the development of cardiac diseases. Patients with cardiac diseases who also have obesity do not benefit optimally from standard cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programs. Exercises performed during CR are not the best fit for patients with obesity and counselling sessions often do not address their specific needs. OPTICARE XL is the first large multicentre randomised controlled trial to investigate the added value of a dedicated one-year CR program specifically designed for patients with obesity and integrated in daily practice. The short-term effects on body weight and physical activity were promising and patients with obesity experienced the program as highly desirable. However, the OPTICARE XL CR program did not show long-term added value compared with standard CR on health-related quality of life, psychosocial well-being, body weight, physical activity and physical fitness, nor on costs. The current article offers an overview of the background of this trial and discusses the most important results of the OPTICARE XL trial and the reasons behind the unanticipated long-term outcomes. Furthermore, it offers recommendations for future research and how to redesign the OPTICARE XL CR program to expand the short-term results.

Keywords: Atrial fibrillation; Cardiac rehabilitation; Cardiovascular disease; Lifestyle; Obesity.

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Conflict of interest statement

I. den Uijl, M. Sunamura, R.M.W. Brouwers, H.J. Stam, E. Boersma, R.J.G. van den Berg-Emons and N. ter Hoeve declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Study design
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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