Level of Activities Associated With Mobility During Everyday Life in Patients With Chronic Congestive Heart Failure as Measured With an “Activity Monitor”

Background and Purpose. Because of dyspnea and fatigue, patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) may be restricted in the performance of normal everyday activities. The aim of this study was to obtain a preliminary indication of the level of activities associated with mobility during everyday life and between-day variance in activities in patients with mild to moderate CHF as measured with an “Activity Monitor.” Subjects and Methods. The “Activity Monitor” is based on long-term (>24 hours) ambulatory monitoring of signals from accelerometers fixed to the subject's body during everyday activities with the aim of assessing the level of activities associated with mobility. Measurements were obtained over 3 days from 5 male subjects with CHF (mean age=64 years, SD=5, range=59–72) and over 2 days from 5 matched comparison subjects (mean age=65 years, SD=4, range=61–71). Results. Mean duration of movement-related activities (walking, cycling, or general movement) (expressed as a percentage of the duration of the measurement day) was lower in the subjects with CHF (X̄=3.9, SD=1.5, range=2.2–6.7) than in the comparison subjects (X̄=11.3, SD=3.0, range=6.6–14.1). In the patients, between-day variance was smaller for different weekdays (eg, Monday versus Tuesday) than for similar weekdays (eg, 2 Mondays) (1.11% and 7.28%, respectively). Discussion and Conclusion. The results show how activities associated with mobility during everyday life may be restricted in people with CHF.