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Published on: August 1, 2019
Baseline preoperative physical activity for surgical patients varies from healthy population controls
Hassan Mk Ghomrawi1, Benjamin Many2, Yazan Rizeq3
1Department of Surgery, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL; Department of Pediatrics, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL; Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL.
Insights
Community-recruited healthy children’s light physical activity (PA) closely matched preoperative PA in pediatric surgical patients. This suggests community controls can serve as a valid alternative baseline for PA in surgical recovery studies.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric surgery
- Physical activity assessment
- Health outcomes research
Background:
- Preoperative physical activity (PA) is crucial for evaluating recovery but difficult to measure in emergent surgical cases.
- Alternative methods are needed to establish baseline PA for pediatric surgical patients.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the validity of using healthy children from the community and a national sample as alternative baseline PA measures for pediatric surgical patients.
- To compare PA levels between elective surgical patients, community-recruited healthy controls (CRHC), and a nationally representative sample (NHANES).
Main Methods:
- Elective surgical patients were matched with CRHC on sex, age, and weight.
- PA was measured using Actigraph accelerometers over 2 days for patients and CRHC, and 7 days for NHANES participants.
- PA was categorized into light (LPA) and moderate-to-vigorous (MVPA) intensity.
Main Results:
- Light PA (LPA) was similar between surgical patients and CRHC.
- Community-recruited healthy controls (CRHC) showed significantly higher moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) than surgical patients (19 min/day, p=0.04).
- Both surgical patients and CRHC had substantially higher MVPA than the NHANES sample (58 and 67 min/day, respectively, p<0.01).
Conclusions:
- Light PA (LPA) in community-recruited healthy children is comparable to preoperative LPA in pediatric surgical patients.
- Community-recruited healthy children may serve as a suitable alternative for establishing baseline PA in pediatric surgical recovery research.
Background:
Preoperative physical activity (PA) is an important reference point to evaluate recovery, yet is not attainable for emergent surgical admissions. We investigated the validity of PA of healthy children recruited from within the same community as surgical patients and a nationally representative sample as alternative baseline PA for pediatric surgical patients.
Methods:
Patients undergoing an elective operation were matched to community-recruited healthy controls (CRHC) on sex, age, and weight, and their PA was assessed using an Actigraph accelerometer. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) Actigraph PA data were used as a nationally representative match for baseline PA. Surgical patients wore the accelerometer for 2 days preoperatively, CRHC for 2 days, and NHANES participants for 7 days. PA was categorized as light (LPA) or moderate vigorous (MVPA). Means were compared between the 3 groups.
Results:
Thirty patients were matched with 80 CRHC and 3147 NHANES participants. LPA was similar between surgical patients and CRHC. However, CRHC averaged 19 min/day more MVPA than surgery patients (p = 0.04), and both groups averaged 58 min and 67 min/day higher MVPA than the matched NHANES sample, respectively (p < 0.01).
Conclusions:
CRHC LPA was similar to preoperative LPA in surgical patients and may be an alternative.
Level Of Evidence:
Level II.
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