A study published in JACC: Heart Failure indicates that heart failure patients who raise their daily step count may experience health improvements over a 12-week period.
The research implies that data from wearable devices, such as step count, can hold clinical significance and may inform future clinical trials and clinical care.
The study, led by Dr. Jessica Golbus from the University of Michigan, used data from the CHIEF-HF trial, which provided participants with Fitbits to track their daily step count and floors climbed.
The trial included 425 heart failure patients, among whom 44.5% were female and 40.9% had heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.
Researchers analyzed the correlation between daily step count, floors climbed, and scores from the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaires (KCCQ), which assess symptoms, physical limitation, quality of life, and social limitation.
A change in KCCQ scores of five points or more is seen as clinically significant.
At two weeks, the mean KCCQ-physical limitation score was 55.7, and the KCCQ-total symptom score was 62.7.
Over the 12-week period, the physical limitation scores increased by an average of four points, and total symptom scores increased by 2.5 points.
The study revealed that higher daily step counts were linked to increased KCCQ scores for both physical limitation and total symptom scores.
Participants who averaged between 1,000 and 5,000 steps per day had significantly associated symptoms and physical limitations based on KCCQ total symptom and physical limitation scores.
There was minimal correlation once step counts exceeded 5,000 steps per day.
When step counts were increased by 2,000 steps per day, participants showed a 5.2-point increase in their KCCQ-total symptom scores and a 5.33-point increase in their KCCQ-physical limitation scores compared to those with no step count change.
The study’s findings suggest that data from wearable devices can be utilized to inform clinical care and could potentially serve as clinical trial endpoints in the future.
However, the results do come with limitations. These include the fact that findings are derived from a randomized clinical trial and that commercially available wearable devices may not be ideal for monitoring patients with chronic diseases like heart failure.
Despite these limitations, the research contributes to understanding the potential of step count data in managing heart failure patients’ health status.
It signifies the need for further research and validation before such data can be integrated into widespread clinical and research use.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about how eating eggs can help reduce heart disease risk, and Vitamin K2 could help reduce heart disease risk.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about how to remove plaques that cause heart attacks, and results showing a new way to prevent heart attacks, and strokes.
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