Can a Counseling Intervention Increase Walking in Patients with Peripheral Artery Disease?

Brief counseling from an allied health professional did not provide meaningful benefit.

Exercise training is an effective intervention for patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) and intermittent claudication, but the best outcomes are achieved through supervised treadmill exercise, which is costly (despite Medicare coverage) and not universally accessible. Home-based walking exercise would improve access for many patients, but the optimal approach to delivering this intervention is uncertain.

Investigators from two Australian hospitals performed a randomized trial to evaluate the effect of a brief counseling intervention to increase walking among patients with symptomatic PAD for whom vascular intervention was not planned. Trained allied health professionals counseled participants in two 1-hour face-to-face sessions at a…

Reviewing Author

David J. Cohen, MD, MSc

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardMedtronic; Edwards Lifesciences; Abbott Vascular; Boston Scientific; St. Francis Hospital

Speaker’s BureauBoston Scientific; ZOLL Medical

Grant/Research SupportEdwards Lifesciences; Abbott Vascular; Boston Scientific; Corvia Medical; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; Phillips, Inc.; St. Paul’s Hospital; V-Wave, Inc; ZOLL Medical; CathWorks, ANCORA

Editorial BoardsJACC; American Heart Journal; EuroIntervention; JSCAI; Structural Heart Journal

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesSociety of Thoracic Surgeons/American College of Cardiology TVT Registry (Co-Chair, Risk Model Development Committee); Cardiovascular Research Foundation (Co-Director, TCT Annual Meeting; Co-Director, New York Valves Annual Meeting)