The Impact of an Electronic Best Practice Advisory on Patients' Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Risk Profile

Regular physical activity (PA) is a component of cardiovascular health and is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, only about half of US adults achieved the current PA recommendations.

The study purpose was to implement PA counseling using a clinical decision support tool in a preventive cardiology clinic and to assess changes in CVD risk factors in a sample of patients enrolled over 12 weeks of PA monitoring.

This intervention, piloted for 1 year, had 3 components embedded in the electronic health record: assessment of patients' PA, an electronic prompt for providers to counsel patients reporting low PA, and patient monitoring using a Fitbit. Cardiovascular disease risk factors included PA (self-report and Fitbit), body mass index, blood pressure, lipids, and cardiorespiratory fitness assessed with the 6-minute walk test. Depression and quality of life were also assessed. Paired t tests assessed changes in CVD risk.

The sample who enrolled in the remote patient monitoring (n = 59) were primarily female (51%), White adults (76%) with a mean age of 61.13 ± 11.6 years. Self-reported PA significantly improved over 12 weeks ( P = .005), but not Fitbit steps ( P = .07). There was a significant improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness (469 ± 108 vs 494 ± 132 m, P = .0034), and 23 participants (42%) improved at least 25 m, signifying a clinically meaningful improvement. Only 4 participants were lost to follow-up over 12 weeks of monitoring.

Patients may need more frequent reminders to be active after an initial counseling session, perhaps getting automated messages based on their step counts syncing to their electronic health record.