Greater sedentary hours and slower walking speed outside the home predict faster declines in functioning and adverse calf muscle changes in peripheral arterial disease.

Objectives: In participants with peripheral arterial disease (PAD), we determined whether more sedentary behavior and slower outdoor walking speed were associated with faster functional decline and more adverse changes in calf muscle characteristics over time.

Background: Modifiable behaviors associated with faster functional decline in lower-extremity PAD are understudied.

Methods: Participants were 384 men and women with an ankle brachial index <0.90 followed for a median of 47 months. At baseline, participants reported the number of hours they spent sitting per day and their walking speeds outside their homes. Participants underwent baseline and annual measures of objective functional performance. Calf muscle characteristics were measured with computed tomography at baseline and every 2 years subsequently. Analyses were adjusted for age, sex, race, comorbidities, ankle brachial index, and other confounders.

Results: Slower walking speed outside the home was associated with faster annual decline in calf muscle density (brisk/striding pace -0.32 g/cm(3), average pace -0.46 g/cm(3), casual strolling -1.03 g/cm(3), no walking at all -1.43 g/cm(3), p trend <0.001). Greater hours sitting per day were associated with faster decline in 6-min walk (<4 h: -35.8 feet/year; 4 to <7 h: -41.1 feet/year; 8 to <11 h: -68.7 feet; ≥12 h: -78.0 feet; p trend = 0.008). Similar associations were observed for greater hours sitting per day and faster declines in fast-paced (p trend = 0.018) and usual-paced (p trend < 0.001) 4-m walking velocity.

Conclusions: Greater sedentary hours per day and slower outdoor walking speed are modifiable behaviors that are associated with faster functional decline and greater decline in calf muscle density, respectively, in patients with PAD.