Level of Activities Associated With Mobility During Everyday Life in Patients With Chronic Congestive Heart Failure as Measured With an “Activity Monitor”

Abstract

Background and Purpose. Because of dyspnea and fatigue, patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) may be restricted in the performance of normal everyday activities. The aim of this study was to obtain a preliminary indication of the level of activities associated with mobility during everyday life and between-day variance in activities in patients with mild to moderate CHF as measured with an “Activity Monitor.” Subjects and Methods. The “Activity Monitor” is based on long-term (>24 hours) ambulatory monitoring of signals from accelerometers fixed to the subject's body during everyday activities with the aim of assessing the level of activities associated with mobility. Measurements were obtained over 3 days from 5 male subjects with CHF (mean age=64 years, SD=5, range=59–72) and over 2 days from 5 matched comparison subjects (mean age=65 years, SD=4, range=61–71). Results. Mean duration of movement-related activities (walking, cycling, or general movement) (expressed as a percentage of the duration of the measurement day) was lower in the subjects with CHF (X̄=3.9, SD=1.5, range=2.2–6.7) than in the comparison subjects (X̄=11.3, SD=3.0, range=6.6–14.1). In the patients, between-day variance was smaller for different weekdays (eg, Monday versus Tuesday) than for similar weekdays (eg, 2 Mondays) (1.11% and 7.28%, respectively). Discussion and Conclusion. The results show how activities associated with mobility during everyday life may be restricted in people with CHF.

Factors Associated With the Level of Movement-Related Everyday Activity and Quality of Life in People With Chronic Heart Failure

“…This discrepancy between the studies may be explained by the small number of subjects in the pilot study (nϭ5) and by a possible selection bias in both studies. However, in comparison with normative values for the duration of dynamic activities as measured with the AM (Xϭ11.5%, SDϭ3.8%), 1,27,28,42 the mean level of movement-related everyday activity in the present study was low (72% of normative values). When defining hypoactivity as the norm minus 1 standard deviation, more than half of the subjects (nϭ20, 56%) was classified as hypoactive.…”

“…As a result, we believe that they may experience diminished function due to a sequence of negative effects: hypoactivity leading to reduced fitness, leading to further hypoactivity. In a previous study, 1 we found that the mean duration that people with CHF performed movement-related activities during a day was considerably lower compared with subjects who were healthy (0.8 versus 2.2 hours per day, respectively; PϽ.05). This hypoactivity in CHF also has been found in other studies [2][3][4][5][6] and may have detrimental effects on fitness, 6 social participation, and prognosis.…”

“…An earlier study by our group showed that walking is the most prominent movement-related activity in people with CHF: 88% of the time during a day spent on movement-related activities was walking, 3% was cycling, and 9% was general noncyclic movement. 1 …”

“…* ,29 A detailed description of the activity detection procedure has been described previously. 1,19,26 Data of the AM measurement were calculated per day (24-hour period) and averaged over the 2 measurement days. The level of movement-related everyday activity was expressed by the duration of movement-related activity (composite measure: walking [including walking up and down stairs] and running, cycling, and general movement) as percentage of a 24-hour period.…”

Effects of Cardiac Rehabilitation Exercise Protocols on Physical Function in Patients with Chronic Heart Failure: An Experience from a Resource Constraint Nation

“…However, exercise protocols involving upper extremity, self-paced walking and trunk muscles activation closely mimic activities of daily living that may be better suited as functional exercises [14]. The appropriate exercise protocols that will serve as the first line of exercise interventions for improving physical function in patients with CHF are still a challenge [15].…”