METHODS:
The study was a prospective; randomized, controlled study. The study
protocol was revised and approved by the research ethics committee for
experimental and clinical studies at faculty of pharmacy, Ain Shams
University, Cairo, Egypt on 11 February, 2015, number (49). The study
was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Clinical
Trail.gov registration No. NCT02922140. The study participants were
recruited from cardiac rehabilitation unit. The included patients were
(1) diagnosed with ACS by cardiologist;(2) followed-up at the cardiac
rehabilitation unit; (3) 20–79 years of age; (4) able to perform
regular physical activity according to patients’ self-assessment and
cardiologist judgment; (5) attending at least 12 exercise sessions of
the cardiac rehabilitation exercise program and (6) reachable by
telephone.
The exclusion criteria were cognitive impairment, terminal illness,
severe arrhythmia, systemic or cardiac inflammatory diseases, inability
to communicate or incapacities hindering patients from medication
administration at home.
A total of 40
post-ACS patients were randomly allocated to either the control group
(n = 20) or the clinical pharmacist-provided services group (n = 20).
The control participants received standard medical care by a
cardiologist, while the intervention group received standard medical
care plus clinical pharmacist‐provided services. Details on standard
medical care and clinical pharmacist‐provided services have been
previously published11.
All patients participated in a
3-months cardiac
rehabilitation (CR) program. It included two days/week supervised
exercise sessions and educational talks.
The target heart rate was calculated according to Karvonen formula:
[(maximal heart rate-resting heart rate*%exercise intensity) +
resting heart rate]. The target heart rate was 40% of the maximal
heart rate for the first month, 60% for the second month and 80% for
the third month
without dyspnea,
pain, exhaustion or ST-segment depression˃2mm based on the initial
exercise tolerance test using a modified Bruce protocol.
MEASURES
At baseline, patients’ demographics and cardiovascular disease risk
factors were recorded.
The following data were collected at baseline and after three months for
all participants.