baseline systolic blood pressure response to exercise stress test can predict exercise indices following cardiac rehabilitation program

background: systolic blood pressure recovery (rsbp) is of prognostic value for predicting the survival and co-morbidity rate in patients with coronary artery disease (cad). this study investigated the association between rsbp and exercise indices after complete cardiac rehabilitation program (cr) in a population-based sample of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (cabg). methods : the sample population consisted of 352 patients who underwent pure cabg. the patients underwent standard symptom-limited exercise testing immediately before and also after the completion of the cr sessions. rsbp was defined as the ratio of the systolic blood pressure at 3 minutes in recovery to the systolic blood pressure at peak exercise. results: an abnormal baseline rsbp after exercise was a strong predictor of exercise parameters in the last session, including metabolic equivalents (β = -0.617, se = 0.127, p value < 0.001) and peak o 2 consumption (β = -1.950, se = 0.363, p value < 0.001) measured in the last session adjusted for baseline exercise characteristics, demographics, function class, and left ventricular ejection fraction. conclusion: the current study strongly emphasizes the predictive role of baseline rsbp after exercise in evaluating exercise parameters following cr. this baseline index can predict abnormal mets value, peak o 2 consumption, post-exercise heart rate, and heart rate recovery after a 24-session cr program.