IJCS | Volume 31, Nº4, July / August 2018

DOI: 10.5935/2359-4802.20180032 443 REVIEW ARTICLE International Journal of Cardiovascular Sciences. 2018;31(4)443-450 Mailing Address: Danieli de Cristo Rua Ludovico Della Mea, 685. Postal Code: 99040-170, Vera Cruz, Passo Fundo, RS - Brazil. E-mail: danielidecristo@yahoo.com.br , danielidecristo2@gmail.com Telerehabilitation for Cardiac Patients: Systematic Review Danieli de Cristo, 1 Natan Pinto do Nascimento, 1 Alexandre Simões Dias, 2 Amanda Sachetti 1 Universidade de Passo Fundo (UPF), 1 Rio Grande do Sul, RS - Brazil Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, 2 Rio Grande do Sul, RS - Brazil Manuscript received 01/04/2018, reviewed 01/16/2018, accepted 02/16/2018. Cardiovascular Diseases; Cardiac Rehabilitation; Telerehabilitation; Physical Therapy Specialty; Review. Keywords Abstract C a r d i o v a s c u l a r r e h a b i l i t a t i o n i s o n e nonpharmacological intervention used to treat cardiovascular diseases. Despite the proven benefits of cardiovascular rehabilitation, the adherence of patients with heart disease is low. Thus, the alternative of telerehabilitation has gained importance, and many studies are being carried out to verify its efficacy. To review the literature and assess the efficacy of telerehabilitation for the cardiac population. This is a systematic review of the literature. The search was conducted in the electronic databases MEDLINE/PubMed (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online), PubMed Central ® (PMC), Cochrane Library, and Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro), using the combination of descriptors, including terms of the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and its entry terms. The MeSH terms used in combination were: “telerehabilitation” AND “cardiac rehabilitation” (Table 1). Then, a manual search by use of the articles selected, as well as a search in the gray literature, was conducted. The search strategy collected 154 studies, of which 109 were excluded because of duplication in the databases and 29 for not being clinical studies. Sixteen clinical studies were included for full analysis, of which 2 were excluded for being prospective, 2 for being duplicate and 5 for not including any outcome. Thus, 7 studies were included. Cardiac rehabilitation using telerehabilitation is a feasible and safe alternative to conventional rehabilitation, and has high adherence of patients with heart disease. It can be added to conventional cardiovascular rehabilitation programs or used in isolation. Introduction Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are increasingly frequent. Their epidemiology has been compared to that of the great epidemics of the past centuries. 1 According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in recent decades, approximately 30%of a total of 50million deaths were caused by CVD, 17 million people worldwide. 2,3 Similarly, Brazil has equally alarming indices, with CVD as the major cause of death, representing 30% of all causes of death recorded, and being the third major cause of hospitalization in the country. 2,3 In addition, WHO states that those diseases are a threat to the socioeconomic development, mainly due to the large number of premature deaths that could be prevented by reducing the risk factors. 4 Some nonpharmacological interventions are used to treat CVD, such as cardiovascular rehabilitation (CVR), consisting in the set of interventions aimed at improving the patients’ physical, psychological and social conditions. 5 Over the past 40 years, the role of the CVR services in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular events has been recognized and accepted by health organizations, and the interventions used in the care provided to patients with CVD have proved fundamental to treat those individuals. 6 Despite the confirmed CVR benefits, low adherence of the patients with CVD has been observed. Some studies have attributed it to the lack of transportation for the patients, lack of time, return to work or