Cardiac rehab appears to help people with atrial fibrillation
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- Reviewed by Anthony L. Komaroff, MD, Editor in Chief, Harvard Health Letter; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing
Cardiac rehabilitation — a personalized program of supervised exercise and healthy lifestyle coaching — is well known for helping people avoid future hospitalization if they have heart failure or they’ve had a heart attack or heart surgery. An analysis published online July 29, 2025, by the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that cardiac rehab can also help people with atrial fibrillation (afib), an irregular heartbeat that can cause stroke and heart failure. Researchers pooled the results of 20 randomized trials that involved a total of more than 2,000 people with afib who were followed for an average of about a year. Compared with people who didn’t take part in cardiac rehab, those who did had a 32% lower risk of recurrence of afib and a substantial reduction in the severity of symptoms when they did occur. Cardiac rehab also improved how long people could exercise. The authors say the results are important, since cardiac rehab isn’t currently a standard part of afib treatment. This evidence now suggests that cardiac rehab can help people with afib feel and function better.
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About the Author
Heidi Godman, Executive Editor, Harvard Health Letter
About the Reviewer
Anthony L. Komaroff, MD, Editor in Chief, Harvard Health Letter; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing
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