Lars Hermann Tang

Næstved, Slagelse, Ringsted Hospital and SDU

Background Little is known about delivering telehealth from a healthcare provider’s perspective. Purpose To investigate physiotherapists’ (PTs) experiences in delivering live online exercise and education for people with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Methods This was a qualitative individual interview study with a thematic analysis approach. The inte...

Objective To evaluate the feasibility of a mobile health-supported intervention in patients with cardiovascular diseases after completion of a cardiac rehabilitation programme. Methods The feasibility study was performed in two hospitals and one municipality in Region Zealand, Denmark. Eligible participants were ≥18 years old, participated in a su...

Background and Aims Rehabilitation targeting patients with cardiac conditions are evident and acknowledged in clinical guidelines. However, participation rates remain suboptimal, with only 50% of all patients with cardiac conditions participating in these programs across Europe. Considering the well‐documented effects of rehabilitation, increasing...

Objectives This study explored associations between digital health literacy and physical activity levels and assessed potential interactions of long-term health conditions. Methods A cross-sectional survey was sent to 34,000 inhabitants in Region Zealand, Denmark. The survey included items on physical activity levels and three electronic Health Li...

Arthritis affects many individuals and can cause pain and limit physical functioning. Exercise is an important treatment option for individuals with arthritis; however, adherence to exercise programs can be challenging. A new initiative in Denmark has introduced nature-based exercises for patients with arthritis. This qualitative study aimed to exp...

Physical activity and exercise therapy appear safe and beneficial for people with multimorbidity and should therefore be considered in the prevention and management of multimorbidity, as argued in this review. General practitioners and specialists should refer people with multimorbidity to supervised exercise therapy (2-3 times/week for 8-12 weeks,...

Introduction Exercise is an effective component in rehabilitation of a range of chronic conditions. There is a growing interest in the use of exercise-based nature interacted rehabilitation (EBNIR), but an overview of current evidence is missing. The objective of this scoping review was to map existing exercise-based rehabilitation interventions co...

Background: Research in Denmark indicates that approximately 30% of people with confirmed COVID-19 infection experience at least one physical symptom 6-12 months after the acute infection. The lived experiences of undergoing prolonged recovery processes and how these processes unfold need further attention. Aim: To contribute in-depth knowledge...

Introduction This study aimed to describe objectively measured physical activity patterns, including daily activity according to day type (weekdays and weekend days) and the four seasons, frequency, distribution, and timing of engagement in activity during the day in individuals with diabetes and prediabetes and compared with individuals with no di...

Aim Evidence suggests low-grade inflammation (LGI) to be associated with multimorbidity. Furthermore, there are links between inflammation markers, physical activity (PA), and labour market participation. The aims of this study were to examine the association between PA and LGI in people with multimorbidity and if this association was moderated by...

Purpose: The effects of physical activity on health are well-established for chronic diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and ischaemic heart disease (IHD). However, sustaining physical activity in everyday life is difficult. Lifeworld knowledge can help qualify interventions aimed at resolving this public health iss...

Purpose: To explore patients with cardiovascular diseases' lived experiences of the support given by a text message intervention focusing on the maintenance of physical activity after supervised cardiac rehabilitation. Methods: In a qualitative study, participants from the feasibility trial FAIR were interviewed individually twice to disclose th...

Objective: To explore what it means for patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) to engage in online delivered exercise and education. Method: We combined participant observations and focus group interviews with knee OA patients who engaged in an 8-week program (12 exercise sessions and 2 education sessions) delivered online. Data underwent a thre...

Introduction Exercise is an effective component in rehabilitation of a range of chronic conditions. There is a growing interest in the use of exercise-based nature interacted rehabilitation (EBNIR), but an overview of current evidence is missing. To provide an informed base for future work within this field of EBNIR, the objective of this scoping r...

Aim: The purpose of Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) is to promote and reduce risk factors in the short and long term, however, the latter has, to date, been poorly evaluated. We explored characteristics associated with provision and outcomes of a long-term assessment in CR. Method: Data from the UK National Audit of CR between April 2015 and March 2...

BACKGROUND Digital health interventions to manage chronic conditions have large potential. However, the benefits and harms are still questioned. Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis investigated the benefits and harms of digital health interventions in promoting physical activity in people with chronic conditions. OBJECTIVE This sys...

Background: Digital health interventions for managing chronic conditions have great potential. However, the benefits and harms are still unclear. Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the benefits and harms of digital health interventions in promoting physical activity in people with chronic conditions. Method...

Objectives: To quantify the impact of a home-based cardiac rehabilitation intervention (Rehabilitation Enablement in Chronic Heart Failure (REACH-HF)) on objectively assessed physical activity (PA) of patients with heart failure (HF) and explore the extent by which patient characteristics are associated with a change in PA. Design: Secondary ana...

Background A systematically and transparently prepared research priority-setting process within a specific scientific area is essential in order to develop a comprehensive and progressive evidence-based approach that will have a substantial societal impact on the site of interest. On the basis of two consensus workshops, the authors suggest the fol...

Objectives Despite documented benefits of cardiac rehabilitation (CR), attrition rates remain relatively high. Insights on patient perspectives concerning dropout during transition phases are deficient. This deeper understanding may help to inform on the perceived benefits and barriers in CR. This qualitative study explores the reasons why patients...

Introduction Persistent pain (PP) and long-term conditions are all associated with psychological well-being. Less is known about their associations with reduced psychological well-being when co-occurring. We investigated how PP and long-term physical and mental conditions relate to psychological well-being when occurring together. Method Data coll...

Background/aims A lack of knowledge exists as to how municipalities are meeting the rehabilitation needs of patients recovering from COVID-19. This poses a potential barrier when referring patients for rehabilitation. The aim of this study was to map and describe municipality-based rehabilitation services for patients recovering from COVID-19 in De...

Aims Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survivors may suffer short-term fatigue, psychological, cognitive and disability problems, but we lack information on the proportion of survivors with these problems in the long-term. Hence, we investigated these problems in survivors 1-5 years post-OHCA and whether the results are different at different t...

Objective To determine levels of objectively measured physical activity (PA) and the proportion of adults with multimorbidity that adheres to PA guidelines. Methods All studies, where PA was measured at baseline using an activity monitor in an adult (≥18 years) multimorbid (≥80% of the population had ≥2 chronic conditions) population. A systematic...

Objective: This study aimed to explore whether young adults with cancer have different functioning compared to older age groups with cancer. Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study including 654 adults (≥18 years) with cancer. Exposure was age groups categorised as (1) young adults (n = 121) = 18– 39 years; (2) middle-aged adults (n = 406)...

Aims. The CopenHeartVR trial found positive effects of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) on physical capacity at 4 months. The long-term effects of CR following valve surgery remains unclear, especially regarding readmission and mortality. Using data from he CopenHeartVR Trial we investigated long-term effects on physical capacity, mental and physical he...

Aim The benefits of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) after acute coronary syndrome (ACS) are well established. However, the relative benefit of CR in those with comorbidities, including diabetes, is not well understood. This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the benefit of CR on exercise capacity and secondary outcomes in ACS patients with a...

Aim To achieve effectiveness and reduce inequality in everyday cardiac rehabilitation, this study aims to compare individual patient characteristics along with completion rates to traditional and evolving modes of delivery in cardiac rehabilitation. Method Patients were included from the UK National Audit of Cardiac Rehabilitation (NACR) database....

Introduction To enhance health and prevent secondary consequences for patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD), maintenance of an active lifestyle following participation in cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is important. However, levels of physical activity often decrease after completion of a structured CR programme. Models that support long-term beh...

Aims This study investigated the feasibility and potential effect of SCARF (Survivors of Cardiac ARest focused on Fatigue) a multidisciplinary residential rehabilitation intervention focused on fatigue and the secondary psychological and physical consequences of cardiac arrest (CA). Methods This was a prospective one-armed feasibility study. Six p...

Aims Investigate the dropout rate during a 12-week transitional exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (exCR) programme focusing on a halfway transition phase between hospital and the municipality-based cardiac rehabilitation. Secondly, investigate patient characteristics associated with dropout at the transition. Methods and results Patients with...

Objective To explore clinicians’ attitudes and beliefs about physical activity and exercise therapy as treatment for individuals with knee and/or hip osteoarthritis (OA). Method This was a scoping review, mapping available knowledge about the topic derived from qualitative research designs and methods. A comprehensive search of selected databases...

Aim: The aim of this systematic review was to assess the effectiveness of rehabilitation interventions on the secondary physical, neurological and psychological consequences of cardiac arrest (CA) for adult survivors. Methods: A literature search of electronic databases (MEDLINE, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, Cumulative Index to Nu...

Introduction Given the high proportion of comorbidities in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and low participation rates in cardiac rehabilitation (CR), a better understanding of how comorbidity interacts with the CR pathway is needed. We investigated associations between comorbidity profiles and referral and uptake in everyday clinical CR...

Purpose: To explore whether young adults with cancer have different activity limitations and participation restrictions compared to older age groups with cancer. Methods: A cross-sectional study including 654 people with cancer participating in a rehabilitation stay. Participants were in the age groups: 1) Young adults (n=121) = 18-39 years; 2) Mid...

Aims and Objectives To explore experiences of daily living and identify rehabilitation needs in patients and caregivers living with myeloproliferative neoplasms. Background Myeloproliferative neoplasms are chronic haematological cancers. Studies report a high symptom burden but little is known about supportive care and rehabilitation for this pati...

Background: The impact of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR) following heart valve surgery is uncertain. We conducted an update of this systematic review and a meta-analysis to assess randomised controlled trial evidence for the use of exercise-based CR following heart valve surgery. Objectives: To assess the benefits and harms of exerci...

Introduction The number of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survivors is increasing. However, there remains limited knowledge on the long-term physical and psychological problems suffered by survivors and their relatives. The aims of the DANCAS (DANish cardiac arrest survivorship) survey are to describe the prevalence of physical and psycholog...

Aim To investigate the association between clusters of conditions and psychological well-being across age groups. Method This cross-sectional study used data collected in the Danish population-based Lolland-Falster Health Study. We included adults over the age of 18 years. Self-reported chronic conditions were divided into 10 groups of conditions....

Aim To explore and gain in‐depth understanding of how out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrest survivors experience the short‐ and long‐term consequences on daily life. Design A qualitative exploratory design. Methods A purposive sample of 32 survivors of out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrest. Data from six audiotaped focus group interviews were collected in eith...

Background: International guidelines for physical activity recommend at least 150 min per week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) for adults, including those with cardiac disease. There is yet to be consensus on the most appropriate way to categorise raw accelerometer data into behaviourally relevant metrics such as intensity, especi...

Aim To quantify the provision of standard cardiac rehabilitation to Danish survivors of cardiac arrest at a programme level, and to analyse whether organizational factors influenced the provision. Method We mapped the provision of cardiac rehabilitation core components to survivors of cardiac arrest and compared this with a reference group of pati...

Objective This study aimed to examine the risk of being granted a disability pension (DP) among incident cancer patients up to five years after diagnosis compared to a match control group, before and after the structural reform of the Danish Disability Pension Act in 2013. Methods All 20–60-year-old incident cancer-diagnosed individuals from 2000...

Objective International guidelines recommend rehabilitation including supervised exercise therapy in patients with Intermittent Claudication (IC), but knowledge of the implementation in clinical practice is limited. This study aims to investigate current practice and opinions on rehabilitation for patients with IC among vascular surgeons and rehabi...

Purpose: Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation improves physical performance and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). However, whether improvements in physical performance are associated with changes in HRQoL has not been adequately investigated in a nonischemic cardiac population. Methods: Patients who were ablated for atrial fibrillation, w...

An increasing number of Danes are living, and dying, with cardiovascular disease. There is good evidence for the impact of cardiac rehabilitation on coronary heart disease, heart failure and symptomatic peripheral arterial disease. However, more high-quality research is needed into a wider range of cardiac diseases including rehabilitation followin...

Background Today, many more people are surviving sudden cardiovascular events and living longer with cardiovascular disease, thanks to advances in preventive strategies and advanced treatment. Hence, rehabilitation and palliative care interventions have become an important focus for improving the lives of patients living with cardiovascular disease...

Background Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is a well-evidenced and effective secondary intervention proven to reduce mortality and readmission in patients with cardiovascular disease. Improving physical fitness outcomes is a key target for CR programmes, with supervised group-based exercise dominating the mode of the delivery. However, the method of tr...

The aim of the study was to determine the impact of an interdisciplinary exercise‐based rehabilitation intervention on fatigue and quality of life (QOL) in patients with Philadelphia‐negative myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). At the Danish Knowledge Centre for Rehabilitation and Palliative Care, a 5‐day interdisciplinary exercise‐based rehabilit...

Purpose: Alternative modes of cardiopulmonary exercise testing are needed and an arm cycle (AC) is a promising alternative to the gold standard of the leg cycle (LC). The aim of this study was to undertake a systematic review comparing maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) obtained from AC and LC in patient populations with cardiovascular disease (CV...

Objective To undertake a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the impact of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) on physical activity (PA) levels of patients with heart disease and the methodological quality of these studies. Methods Databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, CINAHL, PsychINFO and SportDiscus) were searched without language restriction...

Background: Patients with Philadelphia-chromosome negative Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPNs) report fatigue as the most common symptom and contributing significantly to reduction in their Quality of Life (QoL). Targeted non-pharmacological intervention to increase levels of physical activity is suggested as a fatigue-reducing and QoL-enhancing i...

Study design: Cross-sectional study design. Background: Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) using the upper-body is an alternative to standardised CPET. A variety of test protocols has been developed for CPET performed on an arm crank for individuals with lower limb disabilities. However, no test protocol specifically designed to evaluate exerc...

Objective: To assess patient preference for exercise setting and examine if choice of setting influences the long-term health benefit of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation. Methods: Patients participating in a randomised controlled trial following either heart valve surgery, or radiofrequency ablation for atrial fibrillation were given the ch...

Introduction: The cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) assesses maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) and is commonly performed on a leg cycle ergometer (LC). However, some individuals would rather perform the CPET on an arm cycle ergometer (AC). Objective: The objectives of this study were to undertake a systematic review and meta-analysis of the diff...

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate if exercise intensity guided by rating of perceived exertion (RPE) results in an equivalent cardiovascular response when applied in either a center-based or a home-based setting. Design: Data from patients with heart disease (post-valve surgery and atrial fibrillation post-radiofrequency ablat...

Objective The evidence for cardiac rehabilitation after valve surgery remains sparse. Current recommendations are therefore based on patients with ischaemic heart disease. The aim of this randomised clinical trial was to assess the effects of cardiac rehabilitation versus usual care after heart valve surgery. Methods The trial was an investigator-...

Background: A lateral ankle sprain is the most prevalent musculoskeletal injury in sports. Exercises that aim to improve balance are a standard part of the ankle rehabilitation process. In an optimal progression model for ankle rehabilitation and prevention of future ankle sprains, it is important to characterize different balance exercises based...