The SwissPR study is a non-interventional, longitudinal observational cohort study
consisting of a retrospective and a prospective part of patients who have completed the
Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) program of the University Hospital Basel. Assessing the
impact of a CR program on key cardiovascular Benchmark Performance Measures (BPM) and its
persistence over time would be helpful on internal quality control as well as
identification of special need patients with highest cardiovascular risk. "KARAMBA" is
the outpatient cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation program of the University
Hospital Basel (USB) and is one of the largest CR centers in Switzerland. Data regarding
the Swiss population during and after CR is missing so far, thus creating a Swiss
Prevention and Rehabilitation Registry (= SwissPR) on the basis of the KARAMBA
infrastructure has the potential to collect missing data and address these questions. The
results of the study will identify patient profiles at increased risk (special need
patients) and will shed light into the mechanisms of poor secondary prevention behavior.
The objective of SwissPR is to continuously monitor patient characteristics and short-
and long-term benchmark quality measures and outcomes of patients participating in a
12-week ambulatory CR program.
For the prospective and retrospective part no recruitment or screening procedure is
required. The procedure of enrolling patients for the prospective cohort of SwissPR
patients is based on the participation in the CR program of the University Hospital
Basel. Patients are routinely referred by various institutions for participation in the
CR program according to predefined cardiovascular diagnosis. The retrospective part
applies to data of patients, which have completed the CR program in Basel between 2017
and 2019.
Procedures:
Visit 1: Baseline, start of ambulatory CR program (approx. 60min): Patient
characteristics including medical history, current medication, cardiovascular risk
factors, routine laboratory analysis (including lipids, Hb1c, NT-proBNP), clinical
status, electrocardiogram, echocardiography data from latest echo, cardio pulmonary
exercise testing (CPET), questions on general health behavior (diet, weekly exercise
load), Quality of Life and questions on socio-economic parameters.
Visit 2: End of CR program, 3 months after baseline (approx. 60 min.): Same measurements
and procedures as at visit 1.
Visit 3: 1-year follow-up (approx. 15 min.): Same measurements and procedures as at visit
1 and 2 except for CPET.
Telephone follow-up and questionnaire 3 years after CR (approx. 15 min.): After checking
vital status, the following end-points and information will be collected by telephone
interview: hospitalisations since last follow-up (cardiac, non-cardiac), Major
Cardiovascular Adverse Events (MACE) including cardiovascular mortality, myocardial
infarction, stroke, revascularization, hospitalization for heart failure, smoking status
and physical activity. The questionnaire contains questions on health behaviour, quality
of life, depression and medication.
Telephone follow-up and questionnaire 5 years after CR (approx. 15 min.): Same interview
and questionnaire as at 3-year follow-up.