An exploration of physical activity and sedentary behaviour during hospitalisation for acute exacerbation of chronic respiratory diseases

Introduction: Detailed profiles of inpatient physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour (SB) are lacking for admissions with acute exacerbations (AE) of chronic respiratory diseases (CRD). We collected this data as part of the REACH trial (Greening et al 2014). Aims: To profile PA and SB for patients hospitalised with an AE of CRD. Methods: 248 patients (70.3±9.6yrs, 143 females, BMI 26.7±7.0, FEV1 1.2±0.6L, FEV1%predicted 55.5±23.8%) were recruited ≤48 hours into admission. Patients were asked to wear an activity monitor for 24 hours/day. Objective PA data was collected and analysed in 60-s epochs. Patients with ≥1 valid day (≥8 waking hours) were included. SB was defined as ≤1.5 metabolic equivalents (METS), light PA as >1.5<3.0 METS and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) as ≥3.0 METS. Total time spent in each PA category per day, duration of each activity bout and breaks in SB were analysed separately. Results: During 2.5±1.7 valid days, patients averaged 734±213 mins sedentary (82% of the waking day), 139±78 mins in light PA and 21±40 mins in MVPA per day; accruing 662±780 steps per day. SB was broken 70±31 times/day. 86% of PA was performed in bouts ≤10 mins of which 71% was in bouts <5 mins (Figure 1). Conclusions: Patients admitted with acute exacerbations of CRD are highly sedentary. When patients are physically active, most of this is in short bouts, at a light intensity.