STEP in PH
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Using Step Count to Enhance Daily Physical Activity in Pulmonary Hypertension
IRAS ID
174151
Contact name
Luke SGE Howard
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
This study will collect information about physical activity in patients affected by pulmonary hypertension, through a specific device that can be wrist- or belt-worn, and which measures daily step count. The purpose of the study is to demonstrate whether providing patients with their daily step count can increase their levels of daily activity if they have some basic targets to achieve. We also wish to compare the effects of this approach in increasing daily physical activity, with the benefit gained when a drug therapy for pulmonary hypertension is initiated, in patients that have just been diagnosed.
Summary of results
The main aim of our study was to demonstrate whether a prespecified 8 week programme of training based on increasing gradually the number of steps taken daily would be attainable, and whether it would prompt patients affected by different forms of pulmonary hypertension to engage in more intense activities from the point of view of physical effort during their daily life. The tool of choice was a wrist worn watch-like device that would provide patients a feedback on the number of steps taken every day. Moreover, it would provide the investigators with additional data, such as the activity counts per minute, which is an indicator of the intensity of activity. The investigators planned to deliver the programme using a remote cloud platform through which the patients would upload the data from their devices regularly through their mobile phones. This allowed the investigators to provide them with new weekly goals in terms of steps. Twenty patients completed the programme. 15 patients did not complete it as they found difficulties in following the protocol (regularly updating the cloud portal, following the step goals) and eventually dropped out.
The basal evaluation showed that the subjects, based on their daily step count, could be classified as sedentary, according to the internationally acknowledged classification of pedometer-determined physical activity in healthy subjects by Tudor’s Locke. Providing patients with stepcount goals aimed at improving the number of steps taken the previous week resulted in a statistically significant increase in the number of steps, although our patients remained in the range of sedentary. In addition, this improvement was not associated with an increase in the intensity of activities, with a similar number of activity counts per minute from baseline to the end of the programme. No significant improvement in the perception of the patients’ health status (measured through a specific questionnaire, the SF-36) was seen. No adverse events related to the protocol occurred.In conclusion a programme aimed at increasing the number of steps taken daily through a wrist-worn device and weekly goals is feasible. However, in a population of subject affected by different forms of pulmonary hypertension and starting from low levels of daily physical activity, the timing of 8 weeks can be insufficient to obtain a substantial increase in the number of steps and a level of fitness that would prompt patients to engage in more physically intense activities in their daily life. Whether this kind of training can help improve the quality of life of these patients should be subject of future studies.
REC name
London - Bromley Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/1185
Date of REC Opinion
17 Aug 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion