Effectiveness of quality improvement interventions in cardiac rehabilitation on processes and patient outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Pooled result · CR referralResult — go to the resultOdds ratio 5.25 95% CI 3.11–8.87Authors' conclusion
Quality improvement interventions improve referral to CR by up to eight times.
Study context
- Population
- Studies of quality improvement interventions in cardiac rehabilitation (CR), published January 2000 to November 2024
- Participants
- 76,856 participants15 studies
- Comparison
- Quality improvement interventions in cardiac rehabilitation
- Outcome
- CR processes and patient outcomes
Methodological detailsrandom-effects model, 1 RCT, 1 retrospective observational study, 13 pre-post studies
- Random-effects model
- 1 RCT, 1 retrospective observational study, 13 pre-post studies
Pooled result
CR referral
Odds ratio
5.25
95% CI 3.11–8.87
Quality improvement interventions
OR 5.25 (95% CI 3.11–8.87)
As reported in the abstract
Further pooled results
CR referral, by intervention type (subgroup)
| OR (95% CI) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Patient education | 8.37 (4.32–16.21) | |
| Technology | 5.56 (2.67–11.58) | |
| Process changes | 5.31 (2.53–11.12) | |
| 0.050.21520Odds ratio (log scale) |
Other CR processes (narrative synthesis)
- Significant improvement in time from discharge to scheduled appointment
- 1/1 studies
- Significant improvement in attendance
- 3/4
- Significant improvement in prescription of guideline-directed medical therapy
- 1/1
- Significant improvement in completion
- 1/1
- Few studies reported patient outcomes
Original publication
Effectiveness of quality improvement interventions in cardiac rehabilitation on processes and patient outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur Heart J Qual Care Clin Outcomes. Published 17 July 2025. doi:10.
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