Change in Physical Activity During Active Treatment of Cardiac Patients

Date
2017
Authors
Tahana, Leon Winstone
Supervisor
Duncan, Scott
Dreyer, Lukas
Item type
Thesis
Degree name
Master of Health Science
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Auckland University of Technology
Abstract

Sedentary secular, domestic, and recreational behaviour is a major risk factor (RF) for cardiovascular disease (CVD). This study examines the quality of at-home physical activity (PA) and how it relates to physical fitness (PF) before and during 12 weeks of supervised cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in a group of medically referred cardiac patients. PA was measured with an accelerometer (ActiGraph wGT3X-BT), pre and post-CR, to determine if patient at-home PA behaviour changes during supervised CR. Cardiac patients’ (n=27), haemodynamic and morphological measurements were taken. Direct measurement of the volume of oxygen consumption (VO2peak) was done with respiratory gas analysis during a submaximal cycle ergometer test to determine PF. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to assess whether exercise-induced improvement in cardiovascular and muscular capacity (CVaM-capacity) influences the relationships between stages of PF (pre vs. post-CR) and PA behaviour. Pre-CR power output and CVaM-capacity correlated moderately with overall at-home caloric expenditure per week (r=0.47 and 0.53). Calculated r2 values indicate that power output and peak oxygen consumption contribute between 22.1% and 28.1% to the variance of weekly PA energy consumption. At-home PA behaviour (volume and intensity) changed significantly (p≤0.001) after 12 weeks of supervised CR, with moderate and vigorous PA increasing, and sedentary, and light PA decreasing. Future CR research should consider how at-home PA behaviour and other RF inter-associations affect a patient’s cardiac health and CR effectiveness.

Description
Keywords
Cardiac rehabilitation , Physical activity , Behaviour , Functional/ cardiovascular capacity , Accelerometer
Source
DOI
Publisher's version
Rights statement
Collections