Utility of the international physical activity questionnaire in patients with heart failure - the experience of a cardiovascular rehabilitation clinic

Abstract

Cardiac rehabilitation is a multidisciplinary program that improves health-related quality of life and exercise capacity in patients with heart failure. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire - Long Form (IPAQ-L) is an instrument for monitoring population levels of physical activity. The aim of our study was to evaluate the utility of IPAQ-L in rehabilitation of patients with heart failure. Material and methods: We performed a single-center cross-sectional study on 119 patients in which we evaluated anthropometric parameters and cardiovascular risk factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, blood pressure profile, glycemic, and lipid profile. The physical activity level was determinate by applying IPAQ-L. Results: Factors that correlate with better levels of physical activity were younger age (p = 0.013), weight status (p = 0.028), and abdominal circumference (p = 0.007). The application of the IPAQ questionnaire showed that 79.8% of the subjects performed physical activity at a level of at least 1,500 MET-minutes/week. Conclusions: Within a cardiac rehabilitation program, IPAQ-L can be used to assess physical activity, being an instrument with reasonable measurement properties for national monitoring.