| dc.description.abstract | Background
An arrhythmia is a cardiac condition affecting several million patients worldwide. Exercise and physical activity participation is of paramount importance to mitigate risks for adverse health events in cardiac patients. However, benign arrhythmias like premature beats are often perceived by patients and these events may have a negative psychological impact on patients’ lifestyle choices. Indeed, patients may increase the sedentary and resting time and engage in more light-intensity activities to avoid symptoms due to premature beats.
Aim
Investigate the relationship between daily activities (walking and cycling) and the occurrence of premature beats in patients suffering from cardiac symptoms. Second, investigate the relationship between time of the day, patient characteristics, medicine intake, and comorbidities and premature beats.
Methods
Patients (n=16) received a Holter recorder as part of usual care accompanied by a wrist worn photoplethysmography and accelerometer sensor. The study consisted of a home monitoring period. The exact sign test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Spearman’s rank-order correlation tests were used to investigate significant relationships.
Results
No significant difference was found comparing during- and after activity. Furthermore, no significant difference was found for premature beats and time of the day. The density of ventricular premature beats during walking and the total density of premature beats in the morning was significantly higher in males compared to females (p=.020, p=.031). An increase in body mass index (BMI) was associated with an increase of premature beats during the night (p=.030). Furthermore, there was a trend towards a positive correlation between age and the density of supraventricular premature beats during walking (p=.073). The amount of patients having medication or comorbidities was not sufficiently large to draw any conclusions about the relationship to occurrence of premature beats.
Conclusion
No relation was found between daily activities and the occurrence of premature beats. However, an important finding is the positive relation between BMI, age and premature beats.
Clinical Relevance
Due the small study population, additional research needs to be performed to confirm the results. However, habitual physical activity may not have any significant cause-effect relationship with premature beat onset in patients and is therefore unlikely to increase arrhythmia-related symptoms. | |
