Validation of the Lithuanian Version of the Walking Impairment Questionnaire in Patients with Peripheral Arterial Disease.

: The Walking Impairment Questionnaire (WIQ) is a short and simple tool to measure walking impairment for patients with peripheral arterial disease requiring no special equipment or trained staff. The aim of this study was to assess the validity and reliability of the culturally adapted Lithuanian WIQ version in patients with intermittent claudication. : In total, 40 patients with intermittent claudication and ankle-brachial index < 0.

Ambulatory and successive home-based heart rate targeted aerobic training improves arterial parameters: a follow-up study in people with metabolic syndrome.

Background: Studies demonstrated that outpatient aerobic exercise programs (aEP) can significantly decrease aortic stiffness in people with metabolic syndrome (MetS). There is some limited data that remotely supervised home-based aEP can also improve arterial stiffness in this population. We aimed to evaluate the changes in the arterial wall parameters after the 2-month ambulatory supervised aEP followed by the 6-month home-based aEP with and without targeting of heart rate (HR) by electrocardiogram (ECG) in people with MetS.

A Novel Adaptive Noise Elimination Algorithm in Long RR Interval Sequences for Heart Rate Variability Analysis.

As heart rate variability (HRV) studies become more and more prevalent in clinical practice, one of the most common and significant causes of errors is associated with distorted RR interval (RRI) data acquisition. The nature of such artifacts can be both mechanical as well as software based. Various currently used noise elimination in RRI sequences methods use filtering algorithms that eliminate artifacts without taking into account the fact that the whole RRI sequence time cannot be shortened or lengthened.

Changes in health-related quality of life, motivation for physical activity, and the levels of anxiety and depression after individualized aerobic training in subjects with metabolic syndrome.

Objective: Numerous studies associate metabolic syndrome (MetS) with poor life quality, depression, and anxiety. Aerobic exercise training has proven its value in promoting health among subjects with MetS. We aimed to evaluate the changes in health-related quality of life (HRQOL), motivation for physical activity, and the levels of anxiety and depression in subjects with MetS after individualized aerobic training.

The Experience, Prerequisites, and the Barriers in Organizing a Specialized Rehabilitation Program for Patients with Pulmonary Hypertension.

Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a severe progressive disease, associated with reduced exercise capacity and poor quality of life. Although scientific evidence supports the incorporation of specialized training in the treatment of PH, it is only available in a few countries.

Objectives And Methods: This article aims to share the experience of implementing a PH rehabilitation program, to summarize the barriers and prerequisites for launching this service, and to assess its early effect.

Defining the nocturnal period in 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring: a comparison of three methods.

Objectives: The purpose of our study was to compare three definitions of ambulatory blood pressure (BP) nocturnal period and to assess their agreement in determining nocturnal BP dipping patterns.

Methods: We investigated 69 subjects with metabolic syndrome, aged 50-55 years. In all subjects, we assessed 24-h BP monitoring, electrocardiogram and actigraphy profiles.

Daily Heart Rate Variability Indices in Subjects with and Without Metabolic Syndrome Before and After the Elimination of the Influence of Day-Time Physical Activity.

The available research shows conflicting data on the heart rate variability (HRV) in metabolic syndrome (MetS) subjects. The discrepancy suggests a methodical shortcoming: due to the influence of physical activity, the standard measuring of HRV at rest is not comparable with HRV assessment based on 24h Holter monitoring, which is preferred because of its comprehensiveness. To obtain a more reliable measure and to clarify to what extent HRV is altered in MetS, we assessed a 24h HRV before and after the elimination of the influence of physical activity.