Short Physical Activity Program in Coronary Artery Disease.

Coronary artery diseases (CAD) are multifactorial diseases which prognosis and risk factors are improved with increased physical activity (PA). Thus, CAD rehabilitation (CR) program is mainly based on recovering sufficient exercise capacity and promoting regular personalized PA associated to modifications in lifestyle habits to improve control of cardiovascular risk factors and health-related quality of life. However, most of patients do not achieve the recommended levels of PA which may be partly due to numerous barriers that hamper the return to a physically active lifestyle. One promising interventions strategy is so-called 'brief interventions' (BI) to increase PA in health care settings used to initiate change for an unhealthy behavior in individuals and consisting in "verbal advice, discussion, negotiation or encouragement, with or without written or other support or follow-up". An 'extended brief intervention' (EBI) is similar but usually lasts more than 30 minutes and is delivered on a one-to-one or group basis and can be composed of multiple brief sessions. However, in CAD patients, the effect of such interventions on PA level and behavior remains unclear, as well as predictor patterns associated with better outcomes.

The investigators aimed to assess the effect of a 4-day PA education program with multiple EBI and exercise on the level and barriers to PA in CAD patients and characterize the profile of participants (barriers to PA) with better outcomes.