Title: Home-Based Walking Exercise Intervention in Peripheral Artery Disease:

Journal: JAMA Network

Authors: McDermott MM, Liu K, Guralnik JM, Criqui MH, Spring B, Tian L, Domanchuk K, Ferrucci L, Lloyd-Jones D, Kibbe M, Tao H, Zhao L, Liao Y, Rejesk

Type of Study:  RCT

Purpose of this study is to determine if home-based walking exercise program can improve functional performance in patients with PAD with or without claudication.

A total of 194 patients were randomized into 1 of 2 parallel groups: a home-based group-mediated cognitive behavioral walking intervention or an attention control condition.

The authors found that 6 months of a home-based group-mediated cognitive behavioral exercise intervention significantly improved the 6-minute walk performance by 53.5 meters when compared with a control group. A 50-meter improvement in the 6-minute walk is consistent with a large meaningful change. Home based walking programs improved patients walking endurance, physical activity, and patients perceived walking endurance with speed.

Relevance to patients: PAD has a negative impact on patients quality of life as they tend to live with pain, and discomfort. Home based exercise makes exercise more accessible to patients.  Regular exercise has shown to open small vessels. Additionally, encouraging patients to walk has positive effects on patients health. Patients with PAD tend to have other comorbidities such as who have hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. Encouraging home exercise can help patient better control their hypertension, and hyperlipidemia.