By Katie RessmeyerThe Daily Northwestern
Northwestern students on both ends of campus complain about the trek to class. Whether going down south or heading up north, students claim the weather is too cold or the shuttle is just so much easier.
For patients with Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), a condition in which blood vessels in the legs and elsewhere harden, walking is the key to greater health. A recent study found that walking three or more times each week slows the decline in patients with the disease.
According to Mary McGrae McDermott, an associate professor in the division of general internal medicine at NU and the director of the study, there is a close relationship between walking regularly and the ability for PAD patients to function on a daily basis.
McDermott and colleagues tested the rate of decline in 143 patients who walked three or more times per week, compared to 274 patients who walked fewer than three times per week.
The patients were tested once a year for three years. The examinations focused on the level of decline of distance compared to the following year, primarily by measuring the distance a patient could walk in a six-minute time interval, McDermott said.
The benefit of individual walking was previously unknown, McDermott said. But doctors have long recognized the benefits of supervised exercise for patients with the disease, including improved performance on the treadmill.
Supervised treatments are not an option for all patients because they are often costly and time-consuming, occurring three days per week, McDermott said.
Some doctors still maintain that supervised programs are more beneficial to patients’ health.
Because patients experience such pain when walking, they do not have the initiative to walk on their own, said Judy Regensteiner, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Regensteiner works closely with patients with artery disease and diabetes.
But Regensteiner said it is common for patients to be unable to afford a supervised program, and she is pressuring insurance companies to cover the treatment.
“It makes sense to me that there be a low-cost supervised program,” Regensteiner said.
Until supervised exercise becomes an option for all patients, individual walking remains an alternative.
“It is worthwhile (for doctors) to tell patients to walk regularly,” McDermott said.
The findings are also serve as a message to the public that regular exercise and activity are essential to a healthy lifestyle, said Michael Criqui, a professor at the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. Criqui worked with McDermott on the study.
The PAD Coalition, an organization that works to raise awareness about the artery disease, has included the findings in their patient education. The Web site includes suggestions for patient-run walking plans, including walking more than three times per week.
Although the coalition does not work directly with patients, the site is a resource for those with PAD, said Christa Saracco, the communications manager for the Vascular Disease Foundation and the PAD Coalition.
The findings also have been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The next step is to influence doctors who work closely with these patients, McDermott said.
To have wide-reaching effects, McDermott said the findings must be included in clinical practice guidelines, the primary source doctors use to make patient care suggestions.
Reach Katie Ressmeyer at [email protected].
