Study results
| Study | Intervention and comparator | Net health benefits (per patient) | Net costs (per patient) | Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio | Probability of cost-effectiveness |
| Updated to common currency | |||||
| Comparing CR with no CR | |||||
| Georgiou et al, 200121 | Long-term moderate exercise training versus no exercise training | 1.82 LYG | $4650 | $2555/life-year saved | NR |
| Briffa et al, 200530 | Comprehensive CR plus UC versus no CR | 0.009 QALYs | $392 | $42 233/QALY | NR |
| Huang et al, 200822 | CR versus no CR | 76 days life expectancy | $4276 | $20 447/life-year saved | NR |
| Oldridge et al, 200823 | CR versus no CR | 0.011 QWB-derived QALYs | $789 | $71 755 per QALY (QWB derived QALYs) | 58% (QWB-derived QALYs) |
| 0.040 TTO-derived QALYs | $19 740 per QALY (patient TTO-derived QALYs) | 83% (TTO-derived QALYs) | |||
| Leggett et al, 201534 | Centre-based outpatient CR programme versus no CR | 0.07 QALYs | $2147 | $30 943/QALY | NR |
| Rincón et al, 201635 | Exercise-based CR plus UC versus no CR programme | 0.009 LYG | $312 | $3367/LYG | 76% |
| 0.29 QALYs | $1065/QALY | ||||
| De Gruyter et al, 201636 | 50% CR uptake (scenario 1) versus 30% uptake | NR | NR | BCR of 5.6 | NR |
| 65% CR uptake (scenario 2) versus 30% uptake | NR | NR | BCR of 6.8 | NR | |
| Comparing exercise components of CR with education | |||||
| Yu et al, 200431 | CR and prevention programme (exercise and education) versus usual care (education only) | 0.6 QALYs | −$527 | Dominant | NR |
| Reed et al, 201024 | Exercise training plus UC versus UC (education only) | 0.03 QALYs | −$2938 (adjusted for baseline characteristics) | Varied between dominant and $43 141/QALY | 59%–74% |
| $1294 (including patient time and out-of-pocket costs) | |||||
| Kühr et al, 201137 | Supervised exercise therapy alongside standard care versus standard care | 0.13 LYG | $2911 | $23 598/LYG | 55% |
| 0.10 QALYs | $29 498/QALY | ||||
| Comparing telehealth interventions with CR based in a healthcare centre | |||||
| Cheng et al, 201638 | Healthy weight intervention (pedometer based) versus UC | 0.04 QALYs (men) | $1092 (men) | $3287/QALY (men) | 53% |
| 0.04 QALYs (women) | $973 (women) | $2630/QALY (women) | |||
| Physical activity intervention (pedometer based) versus UC | 0.80 QALYs (men) | $1789 (men) | $2227/QALY (men) | 46% | |
| 0.88 QALYs (women) | $1625 (women) | $1854/QALY (women) | |||
| Maddison et al, 201525 | Heart exercise and remote technologies mobile phone intervention plus UC versus UC (exercise and cardiac support group) | NR | $203† | $24 385/QALY | 72%–90% |
| Frederix et al, 201632 | Cardiac telerehabilitation programme in addition to conventional centre-based CR versus centre-based CR programme | 0.026 QALYs | −$616 | Dominant | NR |
| Kidholm et al, 201626 | ICT delivered individualised cardiac telerehabilitation programme versus traditional rehabilitation programme at the hospital or healthcare centre | 0.004 QALYs | $2029 | $588 734/QALY | NR |
| Comparing distribution of CR programmes | |||||
| Papadakis et al, 200833 | CR programme distributed over 12 months versus standard CR over 3 months | 0.009 QALYs | −$131 | Dominant | 63%–67% |
| Comparing care settings of CR programmes | |||||
| Taylor et al, 200727 | Home-based CR versus hospital-based rehabilitation | −0.06 QALYs | $186 | −$3092/QALY | NR |
| Schweikert et al, 200928 | Outpatient CR versus inpatient CR | 0.048 QALYs | −$4200 | Dominant | NR |
| Comparing psychological intervention with usual care | |||||
| Lewin et al, 200940 | Home-based cognitive–behavioural programme versus UC | NR | −$32 | Dominant | 67% |
| Dehbarez et al, 201529 | Learning and coping education strategies versus US (standard CR) | 0.005 QALYs | $1131 | $226 128/QALY | 29% |
Net costs and net health benefits reflect the time horizon adopted by the study, thus these should only be used to demonstrate whether interventions were cost saving or increasing, and whether they improved health or not.
BCR, Benefit Cost Ratio; CR, cardiac rehabilitation; ICT, information and communication technology; LYG, life-year gained; NR, not reported; TTO, Time Trade Off; QALY, quality-adjusted life-year;QWB, Quality of Well-being, UC, usual care.