Circulation Reports
Online ISSN : 2434-0790
Cardiac Rehabilitation
Nationwide Survey of Japanese Cardiac Rehabilitation Training Facilities During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Outbreak
Keisuke KidaMiho Nishitani-YokoyamaShogo OishiYuji KonoKentaro KamiyaTakuya KishiKoichi NodeShigeru MakitaYutaka Kimurafor the Japanese Association of Cardiac Rehabilitation (JACR) Public Relations Committee
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Supplementary material

2021 Volume 3 Issue 6 Pages 311-315

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Abstract

Background:Since the reporting of a cluster outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in sports gyms, the Japanese Association of Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) shared a common understanding of the importance of preventing patients and healthcare providers from contracting COVID-19. This questionnaire survey aimed to clarify the status of CR in Japan during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Methods and Results:An online questionnaire survey was conducted in 37 Japanese CR training facilities after the national declaration of a state of emergency in 7 prefectures. Among these facilities, 70% suspended group ambulatory CR and 43% suspended cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPX). In contrast, all facilities maintained individual inpatient CR. Of the 37 facilities, 95% required CR staff to wear a surgical mask during CR. In contrast, 50% of facilities did not require patients to wear a surgical mask during CR. Cardiac telerehabilitation was only conducted by a limited number of facilities (8%), because this method was still under development. In our survey, 30% of the facilities not providing cardiac telerehabilitation had specific plans for its future use.

Conclusions:Our data demonstrate that ambulatory CR and CPX were suspended to avoid the spread of COVID-19. In the future, we need to consider CR resumption and develop new technologies for cardiovascular patients, including cardiac telerehabilitation.

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© 2021, THE JAPANESE CIRCULATION SOCIETY

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons [Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International] license.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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