Decline in physical activity in the weeks preceding sustained ventricular arrhythmia in women.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Heightened risk of cardiac arrest following physical exertion has been reported. Among patients with an implantable defibrillator, an appropriate shock for sustained ventricular arrhythmia was preceded by a retrospective self-report of engaging in mild-to-moderate physical activity. Previous studies evaluating the relationship between activity and sudden cardiac arrest lacked an objective measure of physical activity and women were often underrepresented.

OBJECTIVE:

To determine the relationship between physical activity, recorded by accelerometer in a wearable cardioverter-defibrillator (WCD), and sustained ventricular arrhythmia among female patients.

METHODS:

A dataset of female adult patients prescribed a WCD for a diagnosis of myocardial infarction or dilated cardiomyopathy was compiled from a commercial database. Curve estimation, to include linear and nonlinear interpolation, was applied to physical activity as a function of time (days before arrhythmia).

RESULTS:

Among women who received an appropriate WCD shock for sustained ventricular arrhythmia (N = 120), a quadratic relationship between time and activity was present prior to shock. Physical activity increased starting at the beginning of the 30-day period up until day -16 (16 days before the ventricular arrhythmia) when activity begins to decline.

CONCLUSION:

For patients who received treatment for sustained ventricular arrhythmia, a decline in physical activity was found during the 2 weeks preceding the arrhythmic event. Device monitoring for a sustained decline in physical activity may be useful to identify patients at near-term risk of a cardiac arrest.

• Authors: Ashley E Burch, Julia W Erath, Valentina Kutyifa, Birgit Aßmus, Diana Bonderman, Andrea M Russo
• Journal: Heart rhythm O2 (Heart Rhythm O2) Vol. 1 Issue 4 Pg. 283-287 (Oct 2020) ISSN: 2666-5018 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 34113882 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: © 2020 Heart Rhythm Society. Published by Elsevier Inc.