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. 2015 Aug 13;2(1):e000288. doi: 10.1136/openhrt-2015-000288

Table 2.

Healthcare resource utilisation and sick leave 12 months before and after exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation following heart valve surgery

CR group (n=277)
No CR group (n=223)
Difference between group difference
Before After Difference Before After Difference p Value
Primary care (visits)
 General practitioners 15.7 (0.7) 25.3 (0.9) 9.6 (0.8) 17.1 (0.8) 27.1 (1.1) 10.1 (0.9) 0.5 (−2.9 to 1.9) 0.67
 Medical specialists 0.5 (0.0) 0.5 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.5 (0.3) 0.5 (0.5) 0.0 (0.3) 0.0 (−0.1 to 0.0) 0.06
 Physiotherapists 0.1 (0.1) 0.1 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.1 (0.0) 0.1 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0 to 0.0) 0.20
 Psychologists 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0 to 0.0) 0.68
 Other 0.8 (0.0) 0.8 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.8 (0.0) 0.8 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0 to 0.1) 0.78
 Total 17.2 (0.7) 26.7 (0.9) 9.5 (0.9) 18.5 (0.8) 28.7 (1.1) 10.2 (0.9) −0.6 (−3.1 to 1.8) 0.60
Hospital inpatient (admissions)
 Cardiovascular, acute 0.6 (0.1) 0.3 (0.1) −0.2 (0.1) 0.6 (0.1) 0.4 (0.1) −0.1 (0.1) −0.1 (−0.3 to 0.1) 0.27
 Cardiovascular, not acute 0.5 (0.0) 0.1 (0.0) −0.4 (0.0) 0.5 (0.0) 0.1 (0.0) −0.4 (0.0) 0.1 (−0.1 to 0.2) 0.78
 Thoracic surgery acute 0.1 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) −0.1 (0.0) 0.1 (0.0) 0.1 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) −0.1 (−0.1 to 0.0) 0.22
 Thoracic surgery not acute 1.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) −1.0 (0.0) 1.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) −1.0 (0.0) 0.0 (−0.1 to 0.1) 0.71
 Other, acute 1.1 (0.1) 0.7 (0.1) −0.4 (0.1) 1.4 (0.1) 1.0 (0.1) −0.4 (0.2) −0.1 (−0.4 to 0.3) 0.69
 Other, not acute 0.4 (0.0) 0.2 (0.0) −0.1 (0.1) 0.3 (0.0) 0.2 (0.0) −0.2 (0.1) 0.1 (−0.1 to 0.2) 0.26
 Total 3.6 (0.1) 1.4 (0.1) −2.2 (0.1) 4.0 (0.2) 1.8 (0.2) −2.2 (0.2) −0.1 (−0.6 to 0.4) 0.80
 Bed days 21.9 (1.1) 5.9 (0.8) −15.9 (1.1) 24.3 (1.5) 7.2 (1.0) −17.1 (1.7) 1.2 (−2.9 to 5.2) 0.57
Hospital outpatient (visits)
 Cardiology 3.0 (0.2) 5.3 (0.6) 2.4 (0.6) 2.5 (0.2) 3.8 (0.5) 1.3 (0.5) 1.0 (−0.5 to 2.6) 0.19
 Thoracic surgery 0.2 (0.1) 1.3 (0.2) 1.1 (0.2) 0.3 (0.0) 0.7 (0.1) 0.3 (0.1) 0.8 (0.3 to 1.3) <0.01
 Other 6.7 (0.7) 12.6 (0.9) 6.0 (0.7) 6.0 (0.4) 8.2 (0.9) 2.2 (0.8) 3.8 (1.6 to 5.9) <0.01
 Total 9.9 (0.8) 19.3 (1.0) 9.4 (0.9) 8.8 (0.5) 12.7 (1.1) 3.9 (1.0) 5.6 (2.9 to 8.3) <0.01
Prescription medication (DDD)
 Ace-inhibitors 145.6 (17.9) 248.9 (25.2) 103.3 (22.2) 148.1 (19.5) 222.9 (25.8) 74.8 (22.6) 28.4 (−31.7 to 88.6) 0.35
 Antithrombotic 175.2 (12.0) 267.8 (14.2) 92.6 (14.8) 158.9 (13.2) 263.9 (14.0) 105.0 (16.4) −12.4 (−55.7 to 31.0) 0.58
 β-blockers 51.7 (5.5) 132.2 (8.1) 80.5 (7.8) 53.4 (6.2) 113.7 (8.9) 60.3 (8.0) 20.2 (−1.6 to 42.1) 0.08
 Spironolactone 6.5 (1.9) 14.7 (2.7) 8.2 (2.5) 8.3 (2.1) 17.9 (3.4) 9.6 (3.4) −1.4 (−9.4 to 6.8) 0.74
 Lipid modifying 62.4 (13.5) 115.9 (18.8) 53.5 (13.6) 59.3 (16.7) 118.7 (24.9) 59.4 (18.6) −5.9 (−50.4 to 38.7) 0.79
 Digoxin 12.5 (3.7) 16.2 (3.5) 3.6 (4.6) 11.4 (3.5) 18.8 (3.9) 7.3 (3.8) −3.7 (−15.5 to 8.0) 0.54
 Diuretics 271.2 (62.1) 350.8 (37.8) 79.5 (66.0) 219.3 (51.9) 344.8 (30.8) 125.5 (52.0) −46.0 (−211.2 to 119.3) 0.58 0.58
 Vitamin K antagonists 31.8 (4.1) 124.8 (8.7) 93.0 (8.7) 34.2 (5.1) 112.0 (8.8) 77.8 (8.8) 15.2 (−9.1 to 39.6) 0.22
Psycholeptics 0.5 (0.5) 0.5 (0.5) 0.00 (0.0) 1.8 (0.9) 1.8 (0.9) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (−2.5 to 2.5) 1.00
 Antiarrythmics 7.1 (2.0) 33.5 (5.0) 26.3 (4.7) 9.1 (1.1) 26.7 (5.2) 17.6 (5.6) 8.7 (−5.8 to 23.2) 0.24
 Analgetics* 32.6 (5.4) 46.6 (6.2) 14.4 (3.0) 47.2 (7.8) 67.0 (8.5) 19.9 (5.6) −5.4 (−18.0 to 7.2) 0.39
 Other cardiovascular 238.5 (20.8) 254.2 (21.9) 15.7 (22.8) 238.8 (25.4) 241.2 (22.8) 2.3 (21.4) 13.4 (−47.5 to 74.3) 0.67
 Other medication 553.4 (32.8) 704.2 (33.0) 150.8 (23.2) 609.1 (40.9) 817.5 (47.4) 208.4 (27.8) −57.6 (−128.1 to 12.9) 0.11
 Total 1588.6 (99.9) 2310.3 (80.2) 721.7 (96.6) 1599.0 (100.0) 2367.0 (93.2) 768.0 (78.2) −46.2 (−287.2 to 195.5)  0.71
Sick leave (weeks) 1.4 (0.3) 4.8 (0.7) 3.4 (0.6) 1.2 (0.3) 3.5 (0.7) 2.4 (0.5) 1.0 (−0.6 to 2.7) 0.21

Values are mean number of visits/amounts and associated SE 1 year presurgery and postsurgery.

*Includes analgetics and topical products with DDD value for joint and muscular pain.

CR, cardiac rehabilitation, DDD, defined daily doses.