Toronto, Sep 25 : Cardiovascular rehabilitation (CR) programmes are underutilised and women are much less likely to participate than men due to some barriers, according to a study. CR improves health outcomes and well-being and can reduce death and re-hospitalisation rates by 20 per cent. The study, published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, found that the greatest barriers were not not knowing about CR and finding exercise tiring or painful. Further, distance, travel, family responsibilities, and difficulties in accessing sessions that require attendance in person also caused a hindrance. "The benefits of cardiac rehab participation are remarkable, plus patients get back their vitality and can return to their meaningful life roles. Unfortunately, women face many structural barriers to attending from the individual to health system levels," said Sherry L. Grace, lead investigator and faculty of health at University of Toronto. "We developed the Cardiac Rehab Barriers Scale (CRBS) almost 25 years ago to better characterise them, and it remains the most widely used and rigorous measurement scale to assess these barriers," said Grace. During the study, CRBS was administered globally via an online survey to over 2,000 patients (out of which 42 per cent of the participants were women) from 16 countries across all six World Health Organisation regions. The study also provided patients with strategies to overcome these barriers, such as talking with a healthcare provider about getting to a programme or doing a home-based programme. "We hope this will lead to more women enrolling in CR, and that would certainly positively impact their health outcomes and well-being," Grace added. "Patients may have legitimate barriers to attending CR, but we recommend they discuss them with healthcare providers, as there are proven strategies to overcome them. Please help spread the word that CR is available in most countries of the world and saves lives," she noted. /IANS