Related factors associated with exercise behavior in patients with peripheral arterial disease

[Purpose] This study aimed to identify the factors associated with exercise behavior in patients with peripheral arterial disease. [Participants and Methods] The study included 43 patients with peripheral arterial disease (mean age, 75.2 ± 5.6 years) who were admitted for endovascular treatment from January 2020 to June 2021. Participants were surveyed through questionnaires to assess their physical function for determining their exercise behavior and the presence of physical, personal, and environmental factors that might have affected their stage of change regarding exercise behavior. [Results] A comparison of physical, personal, and environmental factors between the two groups classified by the presence or absence of exercise behavior showed that subjective health and exercise self-efficacy were significantly lower in the group without exercise. Furthermore, a difference was noted in the presence or absence of work. The adjusted binomial logistic regression analysis results using each of the factors differing between the groups, plus the walking impairment questionnaire total score as explanatory variables, showed a significant relationship with exercise self-efficacy only. [Conclusion] The results of this study showed that exercise self-efficacy presented a useful predictive relationship with the presence of exercise behavior in patients with peripheral arterial disease.