The Relationships Among Pain, Depression, and Physical Activity in Patients With Heart Failure

Abstract

Introduction Increasing patients’ physical activity levels holds many opportunities to facilitate health and well-being among those with heart failure (HF) by improving HF symptoms and decreasing depression and pain. Given low exercise participation rates, an essential first step to increase exercise rates is to evaluate how pain and depression may further influence engagement in exercise programs. Aims: To describe the level of physical activity and exercise that HF patients with depression achieve and to investigate the relationships among pain, depression, total activity time and sitting time. Methods In this correlational cross-sectional study we analyzed data from 61 participants with depression and Class II-IV HF. Results and Conclusion The total time spent being active was less than 1 hour per day. Depressed HF patients have much lower physical activity levels than the general public. Decreasing sitting time and increasing light activity levels hold promise to improve pain and depression symptoms.

Associated factors and impacts of sedentary behaviour in patients with heart failure: A longitudinal study

“…2 This low level of physical activity may be attributed to heart failure symptoms, such as dyspnoea and fatigue, and psychosocial factors, such as low motivation, a lack of self-efficacy, a negative mood or little social support. [4][5][6] Physical activity consists of moderate to vigorous physical activity, light physical activity, walking and sedentary behaviour. Sedentary behaviour is defined as Associated factors and impacts of sedentary behaviour in patients with heart failure: A longitudinal study any waking behaviour characterized by an energy expenditure ⩽1.5 metabolic equivalents while in a sitting, reclining or lying posture.…”

Impact of exercise training program attendance and physical activity participation on six minute walk distance in patients with heart failure

“…This is an important message to convey to patients. Whilst higher training intensities may yield more promising results, for older patients and those with more severe symptoms or pain, exercising at even moderate intensity may be unrealistic (Haedtke et al, 2017). An approach recently proposed for those with chronic lung disease is to place emphasis on substituting sedentary time with light intensity physical activity, rather than a "one size fits all approach" with recommendations based solely on moderate to vigorous intensity exercise (Cavalheri et There are several limitations to our study.…”

“…Of the 140 participants in this study, only one person attended all 24 available sessions in the12 week period. Fifty-seven (41%) participants attended frequently (≥12 sessions) and median attendance was 9 sessions over the 12 weeks.…”

Motivators and barriers for participation in aquatic and land-based exercise training programs for people with stable heart failure: A mixed methods approach

“…Exercising in water improved my balance 7 (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10) Exercising in the water eased my muscle and joint pain 7 (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10) Exercising in the pool gave me chest pain + 1 (1-1)…”

“…Several factors contribute to poor exercise participation in people with HF. These include poor self-efficacy, presence of co-morbid conditions such as depression and pain, older age, sedentary habits, poor social support and disease severity 5,[7][8][9] . Socioeconomic variables such as transport, education and financial constraints, and health system variables such as poor referral systems and resources are also potential barriers 6,10,11 .…”