Attendance at cardiac rehabilitation is associated with lower all-cause mortality after 14 years of follow-up

To investigate whether attendance at cardiac rehabilitation (CR) independently predicts all-cause mortality over 14 years and whether there is a dose-response relationship between the proportion of CR sessions attended and long-term mortality. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: CR programmes in Victoria, Australia Patients: The sample comprised 544 men and women eligible for CR following myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass surgery or percutaneous interventions. Participants were tracked 4 months after hospital discharge to ascertain CR attendance status. Main outcome measures: All-cause mortality at 14 years ascertained through linkage to the Australian National Death Index.