AIM To explore a safe and effective stage I cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program for patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

METHODS This was a randomized controlled clinical trial and 102 AMI patients were randomly divided into 3 groups and they were given different phase I CR program. The conventional group (n=33) only received general treatment, the exercise group (n=35) received early stepped exercise training within 24-48 hours of admission and the comprehensive group (n=34) strengthened stress management measures on the basis of stepped exercise training. Resting noninvasive cardiac output was evaluated at admission, discharge and 6 months after discharge. Patients were followed up until 6 months after discharge and the efficacy and safety of different phase I CR programs were compared.

RESULTS There was no statistically significant difference in age, gender, type of myocardial infarction, type of surgery, number of blocked blood vessels, number of stents, and coexisting diseases among the three groups of patients. At admission, there were no statistically significant differences in various non-invasive cardiac output indicators among the three groups of patients. At discharge, the SVR of patients in the exercise therapy group and the comprehensive treatment group decreased, showing improvement compared to the conventional treatment group (both P<0.05), while there was no significant difference between the two treatment groups. After 6 months of discharge, the LVEF, CTI, and SVR of patients in the exercise therapy group and the comprehensive therapy group increased, and the CTI increased, and the SVR decreased, all showing greater improvement than those in the conventional treatment group (all P<0.01), but there was no significant difference in the three indicators between the two treatment groups. There was no statistically significant difference in the probability of clinical events occurring during hospitalization and 6 months after discharge among the three groups of patients.

CONCLUSION Both phase I exercise therapy and phase I comprehensive therapy effectively improve the noninvasive cardiac output indexes of patients without increasing the probability of clinical events.