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Daily Step Count as a Simple Marker of Disease Severity in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
Joanna Sweeting1, Jodie Ingles2, Kylie Ball3
1Agnes Ginges Centre for Molecular Cardiology, Centenary Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Insights
Daily step count can indicate exercise capacity and disease severity in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) patients. Fewer steps correlate with left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (LVOTO) and reduced functional capacity (NYHA class II-IV).
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Exercise Physiology
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) can cause activity-limiting symptoms, often due to left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (LVOTO).
- Assessing exercise capacity is crucial for managing HCM and understanding disease severity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate daily step count as a potential marker for exercise capacity in HCM patients.
- To determine if daily step count can serve as a proxy for disease severity in HCM.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional study involving 63 HCM patients who wore accelerometers for 7 days.
- Analysis included daily physical activity minutes and step count, comparing patients with and without LVOTO, and by NYHA functional class.
Main Results:
- HCM patients with LVOTO took significantly fewer steps daily (5527±2370) compared to those without (7027±2095, p=0.01).
- Patients with NYHA class II-IV also had significantly lower daily step counts (5346±1898) than NYHA class I (6801±2339, p=0.03).
- No significant differences in physical activity intensity were observed between groups.
Conclusions:
- Daily step count is a simple and potentially valuable tool for assessing exercise capacity in HCM.
- Step count may serve as an indicator of disease severity in individuals with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Background:
Individuals with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) may be asymptomatic or display activity-limiting symptoms. A common cause of symptoms is left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (LVOTO), which may impact the individuals' ability to undertake physical activity. This study sought to examine daily step count as a potential marker of exercise capacity, which may represent a proxy marker of disease severity in HCM.
Methods:
A cross-sectional study of 63 HCM patients was conducted from March to November 2015. Participants wore an ActiGraph GT3X+ (Pensacola, Florida, USA) accelerometer for 7 days. Minutes per day of light, moderate and vigorous physical activity and step count were calculated, and those with LVOTO were compared to those without. Similarly, those with good functional capacity (New York Heart Association; NYHA class I) were compared to those with NYHA class II-IV.
Results:
The majority of HCM patients were male (n=45, 71%) with mean age of 48.8±14.9years. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients with history of LVOTO and those NYHA class II-IV took significantly fewer steps per day (LV obstruction: 5527±2370 versus 7027±2095, p=0.01 and NYHA: 5346±1898 versus 6801±2339, p=0.03). No differences were observed across the different intensities of physical activity.
Conclusions:
Measurement of daily step count may be a useful and simple tool to determine exercise capacity and provide an indicator of disease severity in individuals with HCM.
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