Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2023 Nov:262:113639.
doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2023.113639. Epub 2023 Jul 28.

Measurement of Physical Activity by Actigraphy in Infants and Young Children with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Catherine M Avitabile  1 , Delphine Yung  2 , Stephanie Handler  3 , Rachel K Hopper  4 , Jeff Fineman  5 , Grace Freire  6 , Nidhy Varghese  7 , Mary P Mullen  8 , Usha S Krishnan  9 , Eric Austin  10 , Lori Silveira  11 , D Dunbar Ivy  11
Affiliations
Observational Study

Measurement of Physical Activity by Actigraphy in Infants and Young Children with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Catherine M Avitabile et al. J Pediatr. 2023 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility, tolerability, and adherence with wearable actigraphy devices among infants and children with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).

Study design: This multicenter, prospective, observational study included children ages 0-6 years with and without PAH. Participants wore the ActiGraph wGT3X-BT on the hip and FitBit Inspire on the wrist during waking hours for 14 days. Steps, vector magnitude counts per minute, activity intensity, heart rate, and heart rate variability were compared between groups.

Results: Forty-seven participants (18 PAH, 29 control) were enrolled from 10 North American sites. PAH patients were mostly functional class II (n = 16, 89%) and treated with oral medications at the time of enrollment. The number of wear days was not significantly different between the groups (ActiGraph: 10 [95% CI: 5.5, 12.2] in PAH vs 8 [4, 12] in control, P = .20; FitBit 13 [10, 13.8] in PAH vs 12 [8, 14] in control, P = .87). Complete data were obtained in 81% of eligible ActiGraph participants and 72% of FitBit participants. PAH participants demonstrated fewer steps, lower vector magnitude counts per minute, more sedentary activity, and less intense physical activity at all levels compared with control participants. No statistically significant differences in heart rate variability were demonstrated between the 2 groups.

Conclusions: Measurement of physical activity and other end points using wearable actigraphy devices was feasible in young children with PAH. Larger studies should determine associations between physical activity and disease severity in young patients with PAH to identify relevant end points for pediatric clinical trials.

Keywords: 6-minute walk test; clinical trials; wearables.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest Funding for the study was provided by the Department of Health and Human Services/Food and Drug Administration BAA-18-00 123, University of Colorado. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Fraisse A, Jais X, Schleich JM, di Filippo S, Maragnès P, Beghetti M, et al. Characteristics and prospective 2-year follow-up of children with pulmonary arterial hypertension in France. Arch Cardiovasc Dis 2010;103:66–74. - PubMed
    1. Moledina S, Hislop AA, Foster H, Schulze-Neick I, Haworth SG. Childhood idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension: a national cohort study. Heart 2010;96:1401–6. - PubMed
    1. van Loon RL, Roofthooft MT, Hillege HL, ten Harkel AD, van Osch-Gevers M, Delhaas T, et al. Pediatric pulmonary hypertension in The Netherlands: epidemiology and characterization during the period 1991 to 2005. Circulation 2011;124:1755–64. - PubMed
    1. Barst RJ, McGoon MD, Elliott CG, Foreman AJ, Miller DP, Ivy DD. Survival in childhood pulmonary arterial hypertension: insights from the registry to evaluate early and long-term pulmonary arterial hypertension disease management. Circulation 2012;125:113–22. - PubMed
    1. Ivy DD, Abman S. Beyond the 6-minute walk test for assessing pediatric pulmonary hypertension: making strides through combination end points. Chest 2015;148:576–7. - PubMed

Publication types