By Anna Horner | News & Views

Besides hearty Texas BBQ and reconnecting with the AACVPR community, cardiopulmonary rehabilitation (CR/PR) professionals heading to San Antonio this fall will be treated to the opportunity to catch up on relevant new guidelines and updated clinical recommendations. The program for the 41st AACVPR Annual Meeting, taking place September 30 to October 2, includes expert-led sessions on new, timely focuses: female participation in CR, management of heart-related disorders, pulmonary best practices, and nutritional guidance for heart and lung health.

Showing the Ladies Some Love

At their September 30 session, Women in Cardiac Rehabilitation: A Review of the 2025 AHA Scientific Statement, Todd M. Brown, MD, MSPH, FACC, FAHA, MAACVPR, and Jessica Golbus, MD, MS, will discuss strategies for boosting women’s CR referral and participation rates and tailoring CR for their specific needs. Drs. Brown and Golbus will explain the factors that have played a role in lowering CR referral and participation rates for female patients. Attendees also will learn how a multidisciplinary approach to CR that includes exercise, psychosocial support, and risk-factor mitigation can help improve those rates among women.

Triple Threat

In Keeping Up With the Guidelines: Updates on Hypertension, Lipids, and Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Disorders, Vera Bittner, MD, MSPH, MAACVPR, FACC, FAHA, MNLA, and Randal J. Thomas, MD, MS, MAACVPR, FACC, FAHA, will review updated recommendations for the management of all three areas of concern. They will discuss common scenarios in the CR setting and how the recommended strategies can be applied.

 “We plan to provide updates on clinical practice guidelines that are essential for CR professionals,” Dr. Thomas says. “These guidelines will cover the management of cholesterol abnormalities, high blood pressure, and CKM syndrome. Participants will want to attend to keep up to date on the ever-changing landscape of clinical practice guidelines.”

He and Dr. Bittner also will present on September 30.

Just Breathe

On October 1, Gerene S. Bauldoff, PhD, RN, FAAN, MAACVPR, and Brian W. Carlin, MD, MAACVPR, will give attendees a chance to explore the forthcoming 6th edition of the AACVPR Pulmonary Rehabilitation Guidelines ahead of its release later this year.

“As with every new edition, we strive to identify new concepts and issues facing PR,” says Dr. Bauldoff. “To address the emerging issues in PR, the book outline was carefully reviewed, and we determined that several additional chapters were needed.” She explains that the changes include an expansion of the chapter titled “Nutritional Interventions”; the addition of sections on COVID-19 to the chapter titled “Disease-Specific Approaches to PR”; the addition of a new chapter, “Alternative Modes of Pulmonary Rehabilitation”; and updates to the chapter titled, “Putting It All Together: Performance Measures, Outcomes, Valid and Reliable Tools, and Program Certification.”

Together, Dr. Bauldoff says, the updates work together to “provide a comprehensive picture of the interconnecting pathways between these topics that are critical in program quality.”

Eating to Your Heart’s (and Lungs’) Content

Lastly, on October 2 Danielle Hernandez, RDN, will present A Balanced Look at the New Dietary Guidelines for Heart and Lung Health. She’ll explain the relevance of new dietary guidelines for patients with heart and/or lung disease and how they can be applied to patient education and CR and PR programming.

“In these new guidelines, we will address the new recommendations for saturated fat and sodium intake and how this affects our current nutrition guidelines. I would recommend attendees take a glance at the new guidelines just to be somewhat familiar,” Hernandez says. “Attendees should choose our session not just for their patients but also for themselves. The dietary guidelines were created to help prevent heart disease in the general population, so it is important for everyone to protect their heart as best as they can. Diet is a big factor in the prevalence of heart disease risk reduction. Patients also look to CR and PR staff for guidance, so it is best practice to be updated on the newest information to provide the best patient care.”

Collectively, these four sessions will deliver valuable evidence-driven guidance and underscore why this year’s AACVPR Annual Meeting is a can’t-miss event for CR and PR professionals who want to understand what’s new, why it matters, and how to translate these evolving standards into better care for their patients.