Supervised exercise therapy in the management of peripheral arterial disease - an assessment of compliance

Background: Supervised exercise therapy (SET) is an effective option in the management of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Unfortunately, poor compliance remains prevalent. This study aimed to assess patient exercise compliance and to identify factors influencing symptomatic improvement and SET participation. Patients and methods: Data regarding attendance at SET for this cohort study were extracted from a prospectively maintained database of patients with claudication attending SET at Dublin City University. All patients had ankle brachial index confirmed PAD with associated intermittent claudication. Exercise performance and symptomatic data were gathered retrospectively using patient charts and interviews. Results: Ninety-eight patients were referred for SET during the study period. The mean age was 69.2 (+/- 10.1) with 18 % being female. Median follow-up was 25.1 months (IQ range 17.0-31.6). Overall, the mean number of sessions attended per patient was 19.5. Exercise compliance was associated with a significant improvement in symptoms (p = 0.001). Other factors including anatomical level of claudication (P = 0.042) and educational level (p = 0.007) were found to affect the outcome of SET. Multivariate analysis revealed hypertension as a predictor of symptomatic outcome after SET (p = 0.045). Furthermore, ex-smokers (p = 0.021) and those previously diagnosed with hypercholesterolaemia (p = 0.020) or ischaemic heart disease (p = 0.029) had superior exercise compliance. Using linear regression, smoking history (p = 0.024) was identified as a predictor of compliance to SET. Conclusions: Establishing exercise compliance remains challenging in the PAD cohort. Pre-exercise patient education and personalised exercise prescriptions may result in improvements in function and compliance.