Outcome of Chair Aerobics & Pranayama on Anxiety and Exercise Tolerance in Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Patients: Study Protocol of a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Objectives: The current Indian scenario follows the western cardiac rehabilitation protocol; hence the primary aim of the study is to develop a cardiac rehabilitation phase 1 protocol for the Indian scenario. The protocol will be used in the study as standard rehabilitation protocol for the intervention groups. The literature suggests the use of Pranayama and chair aerobics to improve the anxiety in CABG patients. This study also aims to provide the answer for the effect of Pranayama and chair aerobics on anxiety and exercise tolerance in CABG patients. And also try to find out which among the two intervention is superior among one another.

Methods: The cardiac rehabilitation protocol will be validated by experts in the field and applied in the patients and the results will be analysed. Then the protocol will be used as the standard rehabilitation protocol in both the groups. 100 patients will be randomised and allocated into 2 groups. Group 1 will receive Nadi Sodhana Chair aerobics for 15 minutes along with phase I cardiac rehabilitation. The group 2 will receive Chair aerobics for 15 minutes along with phase I cardiac rehabilitation. The outcome measures will be taken before the surgery and on the post-operative day 7. The primary outcome measures are Hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) and Heart rate and the secondary outcome measure is 6-minute walk test. The intention to treat analysis will be done after the data collection.

Results: The data will be analysed using unpaired t test, p value <0.05 will be considered significant.

Conclusion: The result will give a new insight into the field of cardiac surgery, where the effect of pranayama and chair aerobics on anxiety and functional outcome will be proved.

Ctri registration: This trial is prospectively registered in CTRI, the registration number of the trial is CTRI/2021/09/037008.

Highlights: What is already known about this subject? The effect of Pranayama and chair aerobics on various components like pain, peak expiratory flow after CABG is proven in different studies. The phase 1 cardiac rehabilitation is practiced and adopted from western protocol.What does this study add? The study will give a new insight into the field of cardiac rehabilitation. Definite phase I cardiac rehabilitation protocol for Indian population is not exist in the literature. The Indian set up is using the western protocol, which is not suitable for the Indian population hence could not achieve the expected outcome on discharge. We believe that this study will provide a definite phase I cardiac rehabilitation protocol for the Indian population. This can be followed in the community. Also, this study aims to explore the unexplored area of anxiety after CABG. Where the effect of the Pranayama and chair aerobics will be identified. And also give idea about which treatment technique is superior, and feasible for the patients.How might this impact on clinical practice? The study will provide a new phase I cardiac rehabilitation protocol for the Indian population. The protocol can be practiced in the Indian scenario. This will help to improve the exercise tolerance of the patients after the surgery. The study will recommend the feasible and effective technique for relieving the anxiety and improving the exercise tolerance in CABG patients. This can be implemented as a best practice in reducing anxiety after CABG.