Preliminary results of the world's largest-ever multi-centre randomised trial on cardiac rehabilitation and of health potential of Yoga have proved what yoga practitioners have been claiming for long: that yoga works.
The results of the study which were presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Session in Chicago last week have shown that YogaCaRe has the potential to be an alternative to the conventional cardiac rehabilitation, which is almost non-existent and costly in low-and middle-income countries like India.
The study spanning five-years holds importance given that modern day medicine demands evidence of benefit for interventions for its wider acceptance especially amongst medical research community. However, what's the best about the yoga is that it is safe, relatively inexpensive, does not need an elaborate infrastructure, culturally acceptable and improves quality of life.
"Cardiac rehabilitation is virtually nonexistent in low- and middle-income countries in India due to its high cost and the need for a multidisciplinary team. Even in high-income countries, uptake of cardiac rehabilitation is 25 per cent to 35 per cent and is particularly poor among the elderly and women who may prefer gentler and simpler approaches. There is a high unmet need for cardiac rehabilitation," D Prabhakaran, Professor of chronic disease epidemiology and Vice President at the Public Health Foundation of India said.
Prabhakaran and colleagues conducted study on 3,959 patients in 24 centres in India to find if yoga can be an alternative means to cardiac rehabilitation, as it addresses the same three main components: stress reduction, physical fitness and lifestyle changes.
"This study is a step in that direction. I hope that this study spurs several such large rigorously performed trials in other diseases where Yoga can be potentially beneficial," said Professor Ambuj Roy, Professor of Cardiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
He called the study 'landmark' as it shows that use of Yoga as a CR tool is efficacious in improving quality of life and reducing cardiovascular events among those who completed at least 75 per cent of the sessions. This offers a low-cost and culturally-acceptable effective alternative to standard cardiac rehabilitation programmes that are usually complex and expensive, thereby improving lives of millions of disadvantage people worldwide who are in most need of such care. "The prevalence of ischemic heart disease in India has increased over by 50 per cent and in terms of absolute numbers, has increased from 10 million in 1990 to 24 million in 2016, Professor Prabhakaran said highlighting the need for yogaCaRe. Prof Sanjay Kinra, Head, Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Co-Principal Investigator of the study added, "Improvements in cardiac care mean most people nowadays survive a heart attack. The focus has therefore shifted to improving quality of life of survivors so that they can readjust better after such a catastrophic event."
The programme was funded by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and Medical Research Council (UK).
