PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Ella Pesah AU - Karam Turk-Adawi AU - Marta Supervia AU - Francisco Lopez-Jimenez AU - Raquel Britto AU - Rongjing Ding AU - Abraham Babu AU - Masoumeh Sadeghi AU - Nizal Sarrafzadegan AU - Lucky Cuenza AU - Claudia Anchique Santos AU - Martin Heine AU - Wayne Derman AU - Paul Oh AU - Sherry L Grace TI - Cardiac rehabilitation delivery in low/middle-income countries AID - 10.1136/heartjnl-2018-314486 DP - 2019 Dec 01 TA - Heart PG - 1806--1812 VI - 105 IP - 23 4099 - http://heart.bmj.com/content/105/23/1806.short 4100 - http://heart.bmj.com/content/105/23/1806.full SO - Heart2019 Dec 01; 105 AB - Objective Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) availability, programme characteristics and barriers are not well-known in low/middle-income countries (LMICs). In this study, they were compared with high-income countries (HICs) and by CR funding source.Methods A cross-sectional online survey was administered to CR programmes globally. Need for CR was computed using incident ischaemic heart disease (IHD) estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study. General linear mixed models were performed.Results CR was identified in 55/138 (39.9%) LMICs; 47/55 (85.5% country response rate) countries participated and 335 (53.5% programme response) surveys were initiated. There was one CR spot for every 66 IHD patients in LMICs (vs 3.4 in HICs). CR was most often paid by patients in LMICs (n=212, 65.0%) versus government in HICs (n=444, 60.2%; p<0.001). Over 85% of programmes accepted guideline-indicated patients. Cardiologists (n=266, 89.3%), nurses (n=234, 79.6%; vs 544, 91.7% in HICs, p=0.001) and physiotherapists (n=233, 78.7%) were the most common providers on CR teams (mean=5.8±2.8/programme). Programmes offered 7.3±1.8/10 core components (vs 7.9±1.7 in HICs, p<0.01) over 33.7±30.7 sessions (significantly greater in publicly funded programmes; p<0.001). Publicly funded programmes were more likely to have social workers and psychologists on staff, and to offer tobacco cessation and psychosocial counselling.Conclusion CR is only available in 40% of LMICs, but where offered is fairly consistent with guidelines. Governments should enact policies to reimburse CR so patients do not pay out-of-pocket.