Physical Activity Patterns in Cardiac Rehabilitation Program Participants

The purpose of this study was to examine the pattern of physical activity for participants in a cardiac rehabilitation program. Forty male patients with coronary heart disease, aged between 46–88 yrs, were divided into two groups according to their body mass index (BMI) (normal-weight group = BMI < 25; overweight group = BMI > 25). Energy expenditure (EE) was determined using an accelerometer (Lifecorder, Suzuken Co., Japan) worn on the waist continuously for 7 days, and divided movements into non- exercise physical activity (NEPA) and exercise physical activity (EPA), with associated metabolic costs of < 1.7METs and 1.7–7.2 METs, respectively. The EE was averaged on Monday, Wednesday and Friday (CRP days), Tuesday, Thursday and weekend (non- CRP days), and across all days (All days). For all subjects, NEPA/body weight (BW) for All days averaged 2.4 +/− 0.5 kcal/kg/day and correlated significantly with BMI (r = −0.44, p < 0.01). NEPA/BW in normal-weight group was significantly higher than overweight group for All days analysis (2.6 +/− 0.6 vs. 2.3 +/− 0.4 kcal/kg/day, p < 0.05). In the overweight group, NEPA/BW was significantly lower on non-CRP days compared with CRP days (2.1 +/− 0.7 vs. 2.5 +/− 0.6 kcal/kg/day, p < 0.01). In contrast, NEPA/BW was kept constant for CRP days vs. non-CRP days in normal- weight group (2.6 +/− 1.2 vs. 2.5 +/− 0.9 kcal/kg/days). EPA/BW on CRP days and Non-CRP days averaged 6.6 +/− 2.1 and 4.6 +/− 2.0 kcal/kg/days for overweight-group and 6.6 +/− 0.8 and 4.9 +/− 1.9 kcal/kg/day for normal-weight group. For EPA/BW, there was a significant main effect for days (CRP vs. non-CRP days), but no main effect for group (overweight vs. normal-weight). In conclusion, the results of this investigation suggest that normal-weight subjects and overweight participants in a CRP had similar levels of EPA, however, all patients had significantly less EPA on non-CRP days compared to CRP days. Furthermore, normal-weight participants had higher levels of NEPA compared to overweight subjects, particularly non-CRP days. Thus, increasing the amount of NEPA on non-CRP days maybe effective approach for weight loss, and should been encouraged all cardiac rehabilitation participants, particularly those who are overweight.