Rehabilitation of the coronary patient in 1989

The recent 'position paper' of the Americal College of Physicians and the associated review of the efficacy of cardiac rehabilitation services provide an excellent summary of selected studies and discussions concerning cardiac rehabilitation. The features and outcomes of clinical trials of exercise training, undertaken predominantly during the last decade, were compared as a basis for providing guidelines for the use of rehabilitative services. However, we were concerned that some pivotal questions were not addressed and that some contemporary issues were not highlighted; thus, a less-than-complete overview of current cardiac rehabilitative practices has been provided for primary care physicians caring for coronary patients and for third-party insurers funding their care.