Gender differences in daily ambulatory activity patterns in patients with intermittent claudication

Area of Science:

• Vascular Medicine
• Exercise Physiology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Intermittent claudication, a symptom of peripheral arterial disease, significantly impacts daily ambulatory activity.
• Understanding sex-based differences in activity patterns and physiological responses is crucial for effective management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare daily ambulatory activity patterns between men and women with intermittent claudication.
• To investigate the association between calf muscle oxygen saturation (StO2) and ambulatory activity in this population.

Main Methods:

• Assessed community-based ambulatory activity for one week using step activity monitors in 40 men and 41 women with intermittent claudication.
• Measured calf muscle StO2 during a treadmill test to correlate with activity data.

Main Results:

• Women exhibited significantly lower maximal and intermittent cadences compared to men.
• Women showed a shorter time to minimum calf muscle StO2 during exercise, which positively correlated with their ambulatory cadences.
• These associations between StO2 and cadence were not observed in men.

Conclusions:

• Women with intermittent claudication ambulate at slower paces than men, especially during shorter or intermittent bursts of activity.
• Slower walking cadences in women are linked to earlier depletion of calf muscle oxygen during exercise.
• Interventions should encourage women with intermittent claudication to increase both the amount and pace of their daily walking.