Stamatia Kapetaniou , Martha Kelesi-Stavropoulou , Georgia Fasoi , Eugenia Vlachou
Introduction: Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is the main representative of cardiovascular diseases and the leading cause of death and morbidity around the world. The information of patients throughout educational programmes is necessary, whilst it plays an important role in lifestyle modification and psychological support. Aim: The aim of this review was to explore the importance of information of patients with myocardial infarction with regard to risk factors of coronary heart disease. Material-Method: Source data were obtained from a PubMed and Google Scholar search of the medical literature. A time limited criteria was applied with respect to the publication of articles (articles published in the last 15 years). Fifty one articles were found but only thirteen met the criteria for participation in the review. Results: According to the results of studies, the information of patients, education, consulting for lifestyle modification, compliance of medication and increased of physical activity contribute to improvement quality of their lives. Conclusions: Secondary prevention with implementation of the cardiac rehabilitation programmes offers the right education and information to patients with CHD. Also there is reduction of cost-effectiveness because cardiac rehabilitation improves prognosis of disease and recurrences.
Keywords: Myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease, cardiac rehabilitation