Abstract
Prolonged stay on bed is related to the development of musculoskeletal and respiratory disorders. AIMS: To objectively assess the physical activity level and related factors of hospitalized patients without problems to walk. METHODS: This study enrolled 133 consecutive hospitalized patients (52.6% male; 48.3±16.7yrs old; 69.3±19.1Kg) for clinical or surgical reasons. Patients no restricting to walk with no neurological nor cognitive was included. Patients were evaluated about their clinical history, habits and addicts, anthropometry and level of physical activity. The physical activity level was evaluated by accelerometry around the waist during 24h per day, during 4 consecutive days. Multiple linear regressions were performed to data analyses. RESULTS: All patients spent most part of their time lying on the bed (3250±1872min, 94% of total time) and few time doing activity of moderate intensity (15±16min, 0.5% of total time). They spent a mean of 63.4±55.0 Kcals per day and walked 1586.58±1362.64 steps. The regression models show that age and weight were associated with inactivity (R2=0.50; p<0.05) and that the smoke habits and alcoholism and respiratory and musculoskeletal complaints were negatively associated with moderate activities (R2=0.63; p<0.05). The BMI, comorbidities and cancer were not associated with the physical activity level. CONCLUSIONS: Our finds show that inactivity is highly prevalent during hospitalization even for patients not restricted to bed. The factors associated with sedentary lifestyle are age, weight, smoke habit, alcoholism, respiratory and musculoskeletal complaints. These results should prompt for stimulating physical activity during hospitalization.
- © 2014 ERS