Physical activity in persons with Parkinson disease: A feasibility study

C Allyson Jones,Logan Lawrence,Robert Haennel,Marguerite Wieler,Jennifer Carvajal

doi:10.4236/health.2012.431173

Abstract

Background: Physical activity for persons with Parkinson Disease (PD) is recommended yet little is known about the physical activity levels in this patient population. The primary aim was to assess the feasibility of using a direct measurement and self-report measure of physical activity in patients with PD. Methods: Physical activity was recorded in 11 out-patients with mild to moderate PD. An accelerometer based sensor system (SenseWear Pro Armband?) which was worn continuously over 2 days was used to measure physical activity. Minute by minute energy expenditure and steps per day were recorded. Self-report physical activity was measured using the Short QUestionnaire to ASsess Health-enhancing physical activity (SQUASH) which assessed average weekly activity. Results: Using the accelerometer based sensor system, 83% of the day was spent in sedentary activity with the majority active time spent at a light intensity (2.7 [SD 2.0] hrs/day). Self-reported mean number of hours for activities greater than 2.0 METs was 3.4 (SD 1.5) hrs/day. Although the overall time spent in activity did not differ between the accelerometer and SQUASH, partici- pants reported a higher proportion of activities at the moderate and vigorous intensities than the accelerometer recorded. Conclusions: Measurement of physical activity is a challenge in persons with PD given the disease-related symptoms. We found that, by all accounts, a self-report measure of physical activity should be complemented with a direct measure of physical activity.

Highlights

Physical activity for persons with Parkinson Disease (PD) is recommended yet little is known about the physical activity levels in this patient population
The measurement of physical activity in PD has been either self-report or direct measure [19,47] but rarely both types of measures have been used [20]. The findings from this feasibility study demonstrated that a physical activity measure needs to evaluate the active but the sedentary activities based on an overwhelming proportion (83%) of time spent in sedentary activities
As with many chronic conditions, exercise is recommended for persons with PD [52], yet daily physical activity levels and patterns of participation remain relatively unknown in this patient population

Summary

Introduction

Physical activity for persons with Parkinson Disease (PD) is recommended yet little is known about the physical activity levels in this patient population. The primary aim was to assess the feasibility of using a direct measurement and self-report measure of physical activity in patients with PD. Methods: Physical activity was recorded in 11 out-patients with mild to moderate PD. An accelerometer based sensor system (SenseWear Pro ArmbandTM) which was worn continuously over 2 days was used to measure physical activity. The overall time spent in activity did not differ between the accelerometer and SQUASH, participants reported a higher proportion of activities at the moderate and vigorous intensities than the accelerometer recorded. Conclusions: Measurement of physical activity is a challenge in persons with PD given the disease-related symptoms. While some findings suggest that persons with PD have peak aerobic capacity (VO2max) comparable to those of healthy adults [6,7], others have reported reduced peak aerobic capacity and limited capacity to improve aerobic fitness in PD [5,8,9]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion