IJCS | Volume 31, Nº4, July / August 2018

449 Cristo et al. Telerehabilitation for cardiac patients Int J Cardiovasc Sci. 2018;31(4)443-450 Review Article 1. Simão AF, Précoma DB, Andrade JP, Correa Filho H, Saraiva JF, Oliveira GM; Brazilian Society of Cardiology. I cardiovascular prevention guideline of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology - executive summary. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2014;102(5):420-31. 2. Braig S, Peter R, Nagel G, Hermann S, Rohrmann S, Linseisen J. The impact of social status inconsistency on cardiovascular risk factors, myocardial infarction and stroke in the EPIC-Heidelberg cohort. BMC Public Health 2011 Feb 16;11:104. References submitted to telerehabilitation showed a significant increase in their daily activity level and VO 2 peak after 6 weeks. Hybrid cardiac rehabilitation has been used for patients with CAD. Szalewska et al. 13 have compared the use of that technique in patients with CAD and DM and patients with DAC but without DM. Those authors have reported that adherence to HCRwas high, and that HCR was effective in patients with and without DM. According to Bocchi et al., 14 heart failure (HF) is the common end of most heart diseases, being classified as an epidemic and representing one of the most important current clinical challenges in health care. Telemedicine has been increasingly used for that population. In a clinical study with 111 patients with HF, Piotrowicz et al. 15 have shown that home-based rehabilitation using telerehabilitation caused reversion of depression and improved physical capacity in those patients. Corroborating the results demonstrated, Bernocchi et al. 16 have suggested, in a study with 112 patients diagnosed with HF and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), that a home-based telerehabilitation program increased the walked distance, reduced the dyspnea and improved the functionality of those individuals as compared to those of the groupundergoing conventional CVR, confirming the feasibility and effectiveness of telerehabilitation programs for patients with HF and COPD. Hybrid cardiac rehabilitation has also been used for post-acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients. In a study with 87 post-AMI patients, the authors have evidenced that HCR facilitated patients’ adherence to the training program, but the return-to-work indices were higher in men than in women, although the physical capacity improvement was similar for both sexes. 17 Similarly to the studies assessed, Piotrowicz et al. 18 have confirmed in a sample of 365 patients that HCR using telerehabilitation resulted in a significant improvement in functional capacity, being a feasible, safe and well accepted rehabilitation form, with a high index of patients’ adherence. Conclusion After analyzing the studies, we concluded that HCR and home-based rehabilitation using telerehabilitation are feasible and safe alternatives, with high adherence by patients with CVD. They can be added to conventional CVR programs or be used in isolation. In addition, they help to improve depression, functional capacity and the physical activity level. Author contributions Conception and design of the research: Cristo D, Dias AS, Sachetti A. Acquisition of data: Cristo D, Nascimento NP, Sachetti A. Analysis and interpretation of the data: Cristo D, Nascimento NP, Sachetti A. Statistical analysis: Cristo D. Writing of the manuscript: Cristo D, Sachetti A. Critical revision of themanuscript for intellectual content: Cristo D, Dias AS, Sachetti A. Potential Conflict of Interest No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported. Sources of Funding There were no external funding sources for this study. Study Association This study is not associated with any thesis or dissertation work. Ethics approval and consent to participate This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.