Virtual and in-person cardiac rehabilitation.

### What you need to know Before the covid-19 pandemic, 100 000 people were admitted to hospital with heart attacks and approximately 200 000 were diagnosed with heart failure annually in the UK.1 An estimated 7.4 million people in the UK live with cardiovascular diseases, and this is likely to increase with improved survival following coronary heart disease and an ageing population.1 A 2020 European position paper, in keeping with other national and international guidelines,23 stated that “comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation has been recognised as the most cost effective intervention to ensure favourable outcomes across a wide spectrum of cardiovascular disease.”4 Benefits include improvements in morbidity, hospital admissions, physical activity, exercise capacity, psychological wellbeing, and health related quality of life.34567891011 Patient groups set to benefit are categorised, by evidence level, in box 1. To achieve these benefits, it is recommended that all core components of cardiac rehabilitation (box 2) are included in a comprehensive programme.4 Guidelines from the UK also advocate long term strategies to promote secondary prevention in primary care and …