Physical activity, physical function and quality of life in community

This study compared physical activity (PA), physical function and quality of life in elderly individuals with coronary artery disease (CAD) and their non-CAD peers participating in community-based, maintenance cardiac rehabilitation (CR). Cross-sectional study. Community-based maintenance CR programme. A total of 39 individuals (71.8% women; age 70.5？±？5.5？years; 13 CAD, 26 non-CAD) wore an accelerometer for 7？days and completed anthropometry, chair stands, handgrip strength, a Short Physical Performance Battery, a PA questionnaire (IPAQ- SF), a quality of life questionnaire (SF-36), a 10-m shuttle walk test and two 6-minute walk tests. Compared with the non-CAD group, the CAD group accumulated more objectively measured moderate-to-vigorous PA per week (329.7？±？233.3 vs 160.6？±？149.5？minutes, p？=？.013), achieved PA guidelines on more days per week (3.8？±？2.2 vs 2.1？±？2.6？days/week, p？=？.042), had a lower proportion of body fat (27.5？±？8.4% vs 36.5？±？8.7%, p？=？.004) and a higher proportion of muscle mass (72.5？±？8.4% vs 63.0？±？9.8%, p？=？.022). Physical function and quality of life were not different between the groups. Elderly CAD patients participating in community-based maintenance CR performed more PA and had more favourable body composition but similar physical function and quality of life compared with their non-CAD peers. Long-term participation in community-based maintenance CR may promote PA in elderly CAD patients and help maintain physical function and quality of life at a level similar to that of their non-CAD peers. However, due to a small sample size, these findings should be interpreted with caution and examined in future larger studies