Background: Recently updated guidelines by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association and the European Society of Cardiology recommend at least 12 hours bed rest in patients with uncomplicated myocardial infarction.
Methods: We performed a systematic literature review and meta-analysis of randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials comparing short versus prolonged bed rest in patients with uncomplicated acute myocardial infarction.
Results: We found 15 trials with 1332 patients assigned to a short period of bed rest (range 2 to 12 days) and 1326 patients assigned to prolonged bed rest (range 5 to 28 days). Generally, the studies were outdated and seemed to be of poor methodologic reporting quality. There was no evidence that shorter bed rest was more harmful than longer bed rest in terms of death, reinfarction, post-infarction angina, or thromboembolic events.
Conclusion: We concluded that bed rest ranging from 2 to 12 days seems to be as safe as longer periods of bed rest.