Association between daily ambulatory activity patterns and exercise performance in patients with intermittent...

Area of Science:

• Vascular Medicine
• Exercise Physiology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Intermittent claudication (IC) is a common manifestation of peripheral artery disease (PAD), characterized by leg pain during exercise.
• Assessing daily physical activity provides insights into functional limitations and disease severity in patients with IC.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between daily ambulatory activity patterns and exercise performance in individuals with IC.
• To determine if daily walking cadence correlates with measures of claudication severity and peripheral hemodynamics.

Main Methods:

• One hundred thirty-three patients with IC were monitored for 1 week using a step activity monitor to record daily strides and ambulation time.
• Patients underwent treadmill testing to determine ankle-brachial index (ABI), ischemic window (IW), initial claudication distance (ICD), and absolute claudication distance (ACD).

Main Results:

• Daily cadences, particularly during the highest consecutive minutes of activity, showed significant correlations with both ICD and ACD (P < .001).
• Higher daily cadences were associated with greater walking distances before and at the point of maximal claudication.
• No significant correlations were found between ambulatory cadences and ABI or IW, indicating no direct link to peripheral hemodynamic status.

Conclusions:

• Daily ambulatory cadences are associated with the functional severity of intermittent claudication, as indicated by ICD and ACD.
• Ambulatory activity patterns, specifically cadence, may serve as a valuable indicator of disease impact in PAD patients.
• Peripheral hemodynamic measures alone do not fully capture the functional limitations reflected in daily activity levels.