Correlates of objectively measured physical activity in cardiac patients

Worldwide, coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death, accounting for over 13% of all death in middle-to-high-income countries, and its prevalence continues to increase (1). There are currently over 26 million non-institutionalized cardiac patients in the U.S., and survival of those patients need to be improved via cost-effective interventions (2), such as cardiac rehabilitation programs (CRP). CRP centered on regular exercise programming has been shown to be effective in improving cardiovascular health in cardiac patients (3,4). However, despite the well-known benefits of regular physical activity (PA) on long-term health (5-7), many cardiac patients remain insufficiently active (8), particularly when they do not participate in CRP (9,10). Hence, it is important to understand factors related to being physically active in order to develop effective interventions to elicit regular PA