Research Article The Canadian Cardiac Rehabilitation Registry: Inaugural Report on the Status of Cardiac Rehabilitation in Canada Sherry L. Grace, 1,2 Trisha L. Parsons, 3 Kristal Heise, 4 and Simon L. Bacon 5,6 1 School of Kinesiology and Health Science, Faculty of Health, York University, Bethune 368, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON, Canada M3J 1P3 2 GoodLife Fitness Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Unit, University Health Network, Toronto Western Hospital, 8e-402, Toronto, ON, Canada M5T 2S8 3 School of Rehabilitation herapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, Queen’s University, 31 George Street, Louise D. Acton Building, Room 208 CEC, Kingston, ON, Canada K7L 3N6 4 Canadian Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation, 1390 Taylor Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3M 3V8 5 Department of Exercise Science, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke Street West, SP 165-35, Montreal, QC, Canada H4B 1R6 6 J-135 Centre de R´ eadaptation Jean-Jacques Gauthier, Hopital du Sacre-Coeur de Montreal, 5400 Boulevard Gouin Ouest, Montreal, QC, Canada H4J 1C5 Correspondence should be addressed to Sherry L. Grace; sgrace@yorku.ca Received 29 April 2015; Revised 16 July 2015; Accepted 22 July 2015 Academic Editor: Francesco Giallauria Copyright © 2015 Sherry L. Grace et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Introduction. here are over 200 Cardiovascular Rehabilitation (CR) programs in Canada, providing services to more than 50,000 new patients annually. he objective of this study was to describe the impact of CR in Canada. Methods. A retrospective analysis of Canadian CR Registry data is presented. here were 12 programs participating, with 4546 CR participants. Results. he average wait time between patient referral and CR admission was 68 ± 64 days. Participants were 66.3 ± 11.5 years old, 71% male, and 82% White. he three leading referral events were coronary artery bypass grat surgery, percutaneous coronary intervention, and acute coronary syndrome. At discharge, data were available for ∼90% of participants. Signiicant improvements in blood pressure (systolic pre-CR 123.5 ± 17.0, post-CR 121.5 ± 15.8 mmHg;  < .001), lipids, adiposity, and exercise capacity (peak METs pre-CR 6.5 ± 2.8, post-CR 7.2 ± 3.1;  < .001) were observed. However, target attainment for some risk factors was suboptimal. Conclusions. his report provides the irst snapshot of the beneicial efects of CR in Canada. Not all patients are equally represented in these programs, however, leaving room for more referral of diverse patients. Greater attainment of risk reduction targets should be pursued. 1. Introduction Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death and disability globally [1]. Efective prevention and management of CVD requires multifactorial behavioural and risk factor management. Cardiovascular Rehabilitation (CR) is a com- prehensive outpatient chronic disease management program designed to improve CV health [2]. CR programs ofer med- ical assessment, structured programs of exercise training, patient and family education, and the delivery of CV risk factor management strategies. Participation in CR reduces all-cause mortality by approximately 15% and CV mortality by 25% when compared to usual care [3]. here are over 150 CR programs in Canada, providing services to more than 50,000 new patients annually [4]. he Canadian Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation has guidelines on the appropriate structure and expected outcomes of these programs [2]. However, there is a dearth of data on the exact nature of the CR services delivered in Canada and how efective these are at improving patient health. Consistent with other areas in medicine [5– 7], the creation of an appropriately constructed, nationally Hindawi Publishing Corporation Rehabilitation Research and Practice Volume 2015, Article ID 278979, 6 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/278979