Predictors of motor tasks essential for daily activities among persons with heart failure

To engage in daily activities, persons must be able to perform basic motor tasks, such as walking around the house, climbing up stairs, standing up from the sofa, and so forth. For patients with heart failure (HF), activity intolerance, symptoms of HF, muscle strength, and balance contribute to the "ability" to perform daily activities. Many patients with HF reported that they are able to perform motor tasks, but they modify how they do the tasks. The purpose of the study was to identify factors that predict modification in motor tasks essential to daily activities.

Forty-eight men and 54 women aged more than 18 years (mean 59.6 years) were recruited from an outpatient HF clinic. By using hierarchic multiple regression, 90% of the variance in modifications in motor tasks (Late Life Function and Disability Instrument-Function component) was explained, and significant predictors were dyspnea with motor tasks (beta = 0.87), age (beta = 0.12), and gender (beta = 0.11). Older women had significantly greater modifications in these tasks than men.

Modifications of motor tasks may provide information on those at high risk of developing disability and assist clinicians to identify interventions to improve dyspnea and prevent or reverse decline.