File
Kanai M1,2,3, Izawa KP2,3, Kubo H1, Morita H4, Nozoe M5, Mase K5, Shimada S2,3,6
1Itami Kousei Neurosurgical Hospital, Department of Rehabilitation, Itami, Japan, 2Kobe University, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe, Japan, 3Cardiovascular stroke Renal Project (CRP), Kobe, Japan, 4Itami Kousei Neurosurgical Hospital, Department of Nursing, Itami, Japan, 5Konan Women’s University, Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Kobe, Japan, 6Itami Kousei Neurosurgical Hospital, Department of Neurosurgery, Itami, Japan
Background: Promoting poststroke physical activity is key to the prevention of recurrent stroke. Physical activity is associated with many factors such as physical function, psychological factors, social support, and environmental factors. Among them, there is no evidence on the relation between physical activity and environmental factors in patients with stroke.
Purpose: To clarify the relation between objective physical activity outcomes and environmental factors in community-dwelling ambulatory patients with stroke.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, consecutive outpatients with stroke who could walk without assistance and consented to measurement of their physical activity were recruited from August 2016 to July 2018. We measured the average number of steps taken over 7 days and the duration of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) as the indices of objective physical activity outcomes by using an accelerometer. We used the Japanese version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Environment Module to assess perceived environmental factors. In this study, 7 core items (residential density; access to shopping, public transportation and recreational facilities; presence of sidewalks and bike lanes; and crime safety) and 4 recommended items (traffic safety, social environment, aesthetics, and number of household motor vehicles) were used. The relation between objective physical activity outcomes and environmental factors was assessed by Spearman correlation coefficient. A P value of 0.05 was considered to indicate statistical significance.
Results: Fifty-five patients were originally included, but 7 patients were later excluded because of insufficient data due to problems such as not wearing the accelerometer. Therefore, the study sample comprised 48 patients (age: 67.5 years old, sex: 69.4% men, National Institute of Health Stroke Scale score: 1.0, months poststroke: 4.1 months). The average number of steps taken was 5258.7 steps/day and the duration of MVPA was 19.2 min/day. A significant positive correlation was observed between the average number of steps and the presence of sidewalks (r=0.371, P=0.009) and between the duration of MVPA and the presence of sidewalks (r=0.289, P=0.046).
Conclusion(s): The present study showed that objective physical activity outcomes in community-dwelling ambulatory patients with stroke correlated significantly positively with the presence of sidewalks.
Implications: Our results may help in developing an appropriate strategy for promoting physical activity depending on individual perceived environmental factors in community-dwelling ambulatory patients with stroke.
Keywords: stroke, physical activity, environmental factors
Funding acknowledgements: This work was funded by a Sasakawa Scientific Research Grant [no. 28-622] from The Japan Science Society.
Purpose: To clarify the relation between objective physical activity outcomes and environmental factors in community-dwelling ambulatory patients with stroke.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, consecutive outpatients with stroke who could walk without assistance and consented to measurement of their physical activity were recruited from August 2016 to July 2018. We measured the average number of steps taken over 7 days and the duration of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) as the indices of objective physical activity outcomes by using an accelerometer. We used the Japanese version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Environment Module to assess perceived environmental factors. In this study, 7 core items (residential density; access to shopping, public transportation and recreational facilities; presence of sidewalks and bike lanes; and crime safety) and 4 recommended items (traffic safety, social environment, aesthetics, and number of household motor vehicles) were used. The relation between objective physical activity outcomes and environmental factors was assessed by Spearman correlation coefficient. A P value of 0.05 was considered to indicate statistical significance.
Results: Fifty-five patients were originally included, but 7 patients were later excluded because of insufficient data due to problems such as not wearing the accelerometer. Therefore, the study sample comprised 48 patients (age: 67.5 years old, sex: 69.4% men, National Institute of Health Stroke Scale score: 1.0, months poststroke: 4.1 months). The average number of steps taken was 5258.7 steps/day and the duration of MVPA was 19.2 min/day. A significant positive correlation was observed between the average number of steps and the presence of sidewalks (r=0.371, P=0.009) and between the duration of MVPA and the presence of sidewalks (r=0.289, P=0.046).
Conclusion(s): The present study showed that objective physical activity outcomes in community-dwelling ambulatory patients with stroke correlated significantly positively with the presence of sidewalks.
Implications: Our results may help in developing an appropriate strategy for promoting physical activity depending on individual perceived environmental factors in community-dwelling ambulatory patients with stroke.
Keywords: stroke, physical activity, environmental factors
Funding acknowledgements: This work was funded by a Sasakawa Scientific Research Grant [no. 28-622] from The Japan Science Society.
Topic: Neurology: stroke; Health promotion & wellbeing/healthy ageing; Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) & risk factors
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: Itami Kousei Neurosurgical Hospital
Ethics committee: Itami Kousei Neurosurgical Hospital Research Ethics Committee
Ethics number: 20140002
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
