Faster walking patients with heart disease are hospitalised less, according to research presented today at EuroPrevent 2018, a European Society of Cardiology congress, and published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
The three-year study was conducted in 1,078 hypertensive patients, of whom 85% also had coronary heart disease and 15% also had valve disease.
Patients were then asked to walk 1 km on a treadmill at what they considered to be a moderate intensity. Patients were classified as slow (2.6 km/hour), intermediate (3.9 km/hour) and fast (average 5.1 km/hour). A total of 359 patients were slow walkers, 362 were intermediate and 357 were fast walkers.
The researchers recorded the number of all-cause hospitalisations and length of stay over the next three years. Participants were flagged by the regional Health Service Registry of the Emilia-Romagna Region, which collects data on all-cause hospitalisation.
Read more at European Society of Cardiology
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