Slow and fast walking time in daily physical activities in stable patients with COPD

Abstract

Purpose: The object of this study was to assess slow and fast walking time in daily physical activities and to evaluate the relationship between walking time, exercise capacity and pulmonary function in stable patients with COPD.

Methods: We assessed walking time according to the walking speed in daily physical activities in COPD with a newly developped triaxial meter (A-MES™ activity monitor, Kumamoto, Japan), which was able to quantify the time spent on slow walking (<2km/hour) and fast walking (>2km/hour) and also different body positions (standing, sitting, lying). Twenty COPD patients (Age 76.8±6.2 years; FEV₁ 52.9±16.3% pred) and 20 healthy elderly (Age 73.0±4.2 years; FEV₁ 123.9±22.3% pred) were evaluated by this activity monitor in 3 consecutive day. Pulmonary function, quadriceps muscle force (QF), exercise capacity (6-min walking distance; 6MWD), and health-related QOL (CRQ) were evaluated in these COPD patients.

Results: Patients showed higher slow walking time (70±38 vs 157±48 min/day), lower fast walking time (15±12 vs 78±35 min/day) and longer sitting time (481±89 vs 316±69 min/day). Daily fast walking time was highly correlated with 6MWD and QF.

Conclusions: These data suggest that patients with COPD are markedly inactive in daily life. Slow and fast walking time and 6MWD is the strongest correlate of physical activities in daily life.