Cardiothoracic & vascular anaesthesia
Multimodal prehabilitation as a strategy to reduce postoperative complications in cardiac surgery: A randomised controlled trial
Authors' conclusion
A multimodal prehabilitation programme before elective cardiac surgery did not reduce the incidence of postoperative complications. Nevertheless, when analysis was restricted to meaningful responders to intervention, a significant reduction in postoperative complications and their severity was observed.
Study context
- Population
- Patients awaiting elective cardiac surgery with expected waiting time ≥6 weeks, tertiary hospital, March 2018–June 2021completed the study
- Participants
- 151 patients
- Comparison
- Prehabilitation vs Control
- Primary endpoint
- Incidence of postoperative complications
Methodological detailssingle-centre
- Single-centre
Primary result
As reported in the abstract
P = 0.968
Further findings
| Outcome | Values | P value |
|---|---|---|
| Endurance time, constant-work rate cycling test (prehabilitated, pre- vs postintervention) | Preintervention mean 301 (SD 109) s · Postintervention mean 578 (SD 257) s | P = 0.001 |
| 6-min walk test (prehabilitated, pre- vs postintervention) | Preintervention mean 487 (SD 77) min · Postintervention mean 504 (SD 74) min | P = 0.001 |
| Complications per patient (sub-analysis: 6MWT responders ≥30 m vs nonresponders) | Responders mean 1.1 (SD 0.9) complications per patient · Nonresponders mean 2 (SD 2) complications per patient | P = 0.038 |
| Comprehensive Complication Index (sub-analysis: 6MWT responders vs nonresponders) | Responders mean 16 (SD 15) · Nonresponders mean 25 (SD 19) | P = 0.044 |
Safety
- No patients experienced adverse events attributable to the intervention
Original publication
Multimodal prehabilitation as a strategy to reduce postoperative complications in cardiac surgery: A randomised controlled trial. Eur J Anaesthesiol. Published 16 July 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →