Sedentary behaviour may cause differences in physical outcomes and activities of daily living in older cardiovascular disease patients participating in phase I cardiac rehabilitation

Purpose This study aimed to investigate the rate of high sedentary behaviour (SB) time and differences in physical outcomes (PO) and activities of daily living (ADL) based on SB time in hospitalized older cardiovascular disease (CVD) patients undergoing phase I cardiac rehabilitation (CR). Methods Older CVD patients were enroled from October 2020 to September 2023 and were divided into the high SB group (≥480 min/day) and low SB group (<480 min/day). The study compared patients’ clinical characteristics, usual gait speed (GS), and Five Times Sit to Stand Test (FTSST) time as indices of PO. Motor, cognitive, and total Functional Independence Measure (FIM) scores were used as indices of ADL and compared between groups using analysis of covariance. Results Final analysis included 402 patients (mean age: 76.7 years, female: 35.3%). The high SB group included 48.5% of the study patients. After adjustment for baseline characteristics, GS (0.80±0.27 vs. 0.96±0.23 m/sec, p <0.001) was lower and FTSST (11.31±4.19 vs. 9.39±3.11 sec, p <0.001) was higher in the high SB group versus the low SB group. Motor (85.82±8.82 vs. 88.09±5.04 points, p <0.001), cognitive (33.32±2.93 vs. 34.04±2.24 points, p <0.001), and total FIM (119.13±10.66 vs. 122.02±6.30 points, p <0.001) scores were significantly lower in the high SB group versus low SB group after adjustment. Conclusions In older CVD patients in phase I CR, SB time might influence PO and ADL at discharge. It is thus necessary to consider the amount of SB time spent by these patients during daily life while hospitalized.