Aims, design and enrollment rate of the Cardiac Rehabilitation in Advanced Age (CR-AGE) randomized, controlled trial.

Data regarding the efficacy of cardiac rehabilitation after acute myocardial infarction in advanced age are limited, and are derived from either controlled but non randomized trials, or observational studies. Several aspects of cardiac rehabilitation after myocardial infarction in advanced age, including its effectiveness on exercise tolerance and health-related quality of life, as well as the feasibility of rehabilitation programs, need clarification. The objectives of this randomized, controlled trial, Cardiac Rehabilitation in Advanced Age (CR-AGE), are to examine the effects of an 8-week comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation intervention, comparing 1) supervised outpatient, hospital-based cardiac rehabilitation, 2) home-based cardiac rehabilitation, and 3) usual care in each of three groups of post-myocardial infarction patients, 45-65, 66-75, and 76-85 years of age. The primary objective of the trial is to evaluate the change in physical fitness in each age group assessed by total work capacity at the end of the intervention, and during follow-up over both the medium- (6 months) and the long-term (1 and 2 years). Secondary objectives of the trial include an examination of the feasibility of cardiac rehabilitation in older patients, as well as the determination of the following exercise complication rates; changes in peak oxygen consumption; changes in other outcome measures, such as health-related quality of life, prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms, fluid intelligence, body composition and mass index; incidence of new cardiac and non-cardiac events; and utilization rates of health care services. Enrollment in the CR-AGE trial is expected to be completed within the first half of 1998.