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.