The Benefits of Early Rehabilitation for Patients With Acute Heart Failure Requiring IV Inotropic Drugs

OBJECTIVES: The benefits of early rehabilitation for patients with acute heart failure (HF) requiring IV inotropic drugs have yet to be determined. We investigated the association between early rehabilitation and short-term clinical outcomes in patients with acute HF requiring IV inotropic drugs. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: This study used data including more than 90% of patients at a tertiary emergency hospital in Japan. PATIENTS: This study included patients with acute HF who required IV inotropic drugs within 2 days of admission. INTERVENTIONS: We compared patients who commenced rehabilitation within 2 days of admission (the early rehabilitation group) and those who did not (the control group). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Propensity score matching was used to compare in-hospital mortality, 30-day all-cause and HF readmissions, length of stay, and Barthel Index (BI) at discharge between patients who received early rehabilitation and those who did not. Totally, 38,302 patients were eligible for inclusion; of these, 5,127 received early rehabilitation and 5,126 pairs were generated by propensity score matching. After propensity score matching, the patients who received early rehabilitation had a lower in-hospital mortality rate than those who did not (9.9% vs. 13.2%; p < 0.001). The relative risk (95% CI) of early rehabilitation for in-hospital mortality was 0.75 (0.67–0.83). Patients undergoing early rehabilitation exhibited a shorter mean length of stay (25.5 vs. 27.1; p < 0.001), lower 30-day all-cause (14.1% vs. 16.4%; p = 0.001) and HF (8.6% vs. 10.4%; p = 0.002) readmissions, and higher BI scores at discharge (68 vs. 67; p = 0.096). Consistent findings were observed across subgroups, including in patients 80 years old or older, those with a body mass index less than 18.5 kg/ m², and those with BI scores less than 60. CONCLUSIONS: The early prescription of rehabilitation was associated with favorable short-term outcomes even for patients with acute HF requiring IV inotropic drugs.