A prospective study examining the influence of cardiac rehabilitation on the sedentary time of highly sedentary, physically inactive patients

Abstract

These results suggest that the exercise-focus of CR may not reduce sedentary behaviours. Future studies are needed to determine whether sedentary behaviour-specific reduction strategies are more effective than traditional exercise-based strategies and lead to meaningful improvements in clinical outcomes.

Sedentary behavior and physical activity in cardiac rehabilitation participants

“…In the present study, the significant increase in MVPA time with CR is consistent with findings from previous studies. 4,6,25 However, in contrast with the study by ter Hoeve et al, 4 our participants did not retain the increase in MVPA time at the 6 month follow-up. This observation may be attributed to the fact that »70% of our participants met the recommended level of MVPA (i.e., 30 min/day) 26 at all 3 assessment points (baseline: 75.9%, 12 weeks: 75.9%, 6 months: 67.2%).…”

“…4,7À9 These findings suggest that the current CR programs may have little impact on changing the elevated sedentary behavior of their participants. This confirmed the findings from a study by Biswas et al 6 Those authors examined sedentary behavior and PA during CR program and reported no changes in sedentary time despite a significant improvement in time spent in MVPA as well as the higher percentage of participants meeting the recommended MVPA. They concluded that programs that focus on exercise might not be successful in reducing sedentary behavior.…”

“…They concluded that programs that focus on exercise might not be successful in reducing sedentary behavior. 6 Replacing sedentary time with spontaneous PA (i.e., light PA) can not only reduce sedentary behavior, but also independently lead to substantial metabolic, cardiovascular, and mortality benefits. 1,6,27À29 Previous studies reported strong correlation between changes in sedentary behavior and changes in light PA; and suggested that replacing sedentary behavior with light PA, being easy to implement, can be a feasible strategy to decrease ongoing sedentary behavior.…”

“…Only days where the SWA was worn for 10 waking hours/day were included for analysis. 6 The SWA also provides estimates of sleep time. 21 For the purpose of this study, sleep data were excluded.…”

“…However, they might not be as successful in reducing overall sedentary behavior. 5,6 Elevated sedentary time has been reported in several studies that involved CR participants. 4,7À11 There is evidence suggesting a deleterious association between prolonged uninterrupted sedentary time and cardio-metabolic markers; whereas interrupting sedentary time with activity breaks has been shown to be beneficial in improving these markers.…”