Lock-down, Slow-down: Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Physical Activity using data from Cardiac Devices

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK was placed under strict lockdown measures on March 23rd 2020. The aim of this study was to quantify the effects on physical activity levels utilising data from the prospective Triage-HF Plus study. This represents a cohort of adult patients with implanted cardiac devices capable of measuring activity by embedded accelerometery via a remote monitoring platform. Activity data were available for the 4 weeks pre- and post- implementation of ‘stay at home’ lockdown measures in the form of ‘minutes active per day’ (mins/day). Data were analysed for 311 patients (77.2% male, mean age 68.8, frailty 55.9%. 92.2% established heart failure diagnosis, of these 51.2% NYHA II), with co—morbidities representative of a real-world cohort.Post- lockdown, a significant reduction in median physical activity equating to 20.8 active mins/day was seen. The reduction was uniform with a slightly more pronounced drop in PA for females, but no statistically significant difference with respect to age, BMI, frailty or device type. Activity dropped in the immediate 2-week period post lockdown, but steadily returned thereafter. Median activity week 4 weeks post lockdown remained significantly lower than 4 weeks pre-lockdown (p = <0.001).In a population of predominantly heart failure patients with cardiac devices, activity reduced by approximately 20 minutes active per day in the immediate aftermath of strict COVID-19 lockdown measures.