The Effect of Phase I Cardiac Rehabilitation on the Rate of Delirium After Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery

Background and Aim: One of the known causes of delirium is hypoxia.Phase one cardiac rehabilitation program can improve pulmonary aerobic capacity and subsequently increase brain tissue perfusion.As a result, due to its hypoxia-reducing effects, it may be able to reduce delirium levels.The aim of this study was to determine the effect of phase one cardiac rehabilitation on the delirium level of patients after coronary artery bypass graft surgery.Materials and Methods: This clinical trial study was performed on 60 patients in the cardiac intensive care unit of Imam Reza Hospital in Mashhad during 1398.After randomly assigning patients to two intervention and control groups, in patients in the intervention group, phase one of cardiac rehabilitation was performed.Patients in the control group received routine ward program.Delirium was measured by Nicham questionnaire in seven rounds, SPSS software version 20 was performed for analyzing data.Data were analyzed using Chi-square, independent t-test, Mann-Whitney and analysis of variance statistical tests.Pvalues less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.Results: Two groups were homogeneous in terms of contextual variables.Results of analysis variance with repeated measurement test showed a significant difference between two groups in terms of delirium.(P= 0.016) The difference between two groups on the first to fourth days was significant and daily delirium levels of two groups on different days were significantly different from each other.(P= 0/001).p Conclusion: This study showed performing phase one cardiac rehabilitation effectively reduces delirium.Therefore, phase one rehabilitation can be used as an affordable and lowcost approach to prevent and reduce delirium.