Using daily steps to identify patients with peripheral artery disease with high sedentary time and low physical activity.

This document, published in the journal Vascular Medicine, discusses the use of daily steps to identify patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) who have high sedentary time and low physical activity. The study aimed to establish specific cut-off points for distinguishing between healthy and unhealthy combined profiles of sedentary time and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among patients with PAD and claudication symptoms. The researchers found that daily steps can be used as a clinically useful metric to discriminate between patients with healthy and unhealthy combined profiles of sedentary time and MVPA. Patients with a healthy profile had better six-minute walk test performance and higher ankle-brachial index (ABI) compared to those with an unhealthy profile. The study suggests that patients who achieve at least 6,000 steps per day have the healthiest combined profile, while those who take less than 3,000 steps per day are likely to have an unhealthy profile and require closer care. Increasing daily step counts by at least 1,000 steps is recommended for patients with an unhealthy profile. The findings have important implications for healthcare professionals and can be used to set step count goals for patients with PAD. [Extracted from the article]