Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Adherence to Exercise Prescription: The case of Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs

Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs (CRPs) are an important tool of secondary prevention and their implementation within health services, despite the uneven geographical distribution, has been receiving attention from decision-makers in recent years. Adherence to the CRPs is one of the great challenges faced by the multidisciplinary team, and there are several strategies to maintain adherence, particularly in CRP-Phase III, which occurs outside the hospital environment. One of the strategies followed is the use of remote performance monitoring and recording of possible alert symptoms. With the pandemic due to COVID-19, these challenges have become even more evident as Phase II programs have been suspended, thus increasing the importance of the home-based CRPs. In this work, the results of a study aiming to understand the impact of the pandemic on adherence to the prescription of exercise and the perception of patients regarding the effects of physical activity on health conditions are shown. The results indicate that the pandemic did not have a major effect on the adherence to home-based exercises, in particular, in patients undergoing programs using a telemonitoring system. Moreover, the perception of the importance of physical activity for health and well-being was reinforced in the context of the pandemic.