We investigated the effects of early rehabilitation therapy on prolonged mechanically ventilated patients after coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG).
A total of 106 patients who underwent CABG between June 2012 and May 2015 were enrolled and randomly assigned into an early rehabilitation group (53 cases) and a control group (53 cases). The rehabilitation therapy consisted of 6 steps including head up, transferring from supination to sitting, sitting on the edge of bed, sitting in a chair, transferring from sitting to standing, and walking along a bed. The patients received rehabilitation therapy in the intensive care unit (ICU) after CABG in the early rehabilitation group. The control group patients received rehabilitation therapy after leaving the ICU.
The results showed that the early rehabilitation therapy could significantly decrease the duration of mechanical ventilation (early rehabilitation group: 8.1 ± 3.3 days; control group: 13.9 ± 4.1 days, P < 0.01), hospital stay (early rehabilitation group: 22.0 ± 3.8 days; control group: 29.1 ± 4.6 days, P < 0.01), and ICU stay (early rehabilitation group: 11.7 ± 3.2 days; control group: 18.3 ± 4.2 days, P < 0.01) for patients requiring more than 72 hours prolonged mechanical ventilation. The results of Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the proportions of patients remaining on mechanical ventilation in the early rehabilitation group were larger than that in the control group after 7 days of rehabilitation therapy (logrank test: P < 0.01).
The results provide evidence for supporting the application of early rehabilitation therapy in patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation after CABG.