Inactive lifestyles and sedentary behavior in persons with chronic aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: evidence from accelerometer-based activity monitoring.

Only 33 of 52 HIPS-Rehab volunteers had usable activity data; 6 refused to wear the monitor, 4 had technical failure, and 9 were aged 70 years or older. The control group was small (18) and recruited by advertisement, and measurement days differed: 3 days in 42% of a-SAH and 83% of controls, 2 days in 48% and 6%, 1 day in 9% and 11%. The a-SAH group had higher BMI than controls (27.1 vs 23.9 kg/m2; p = 0.002), and the authors did not adjust for BMI because higher BMI may itself reflect inactive behavior. Most participants had low-grade a-SAH and none had paresis or spasticity, so findings may not apply to more severely affected stroke survivors. This was a cross-sectional observational study, not an intervention trial, so it cannot show that increasing activity or taking breaks from sitting improves health. Wearing the monitor may have influenced activity, and no heart rate or other physiological strain data were collected. Objective monitor results cannot be directly compared with many public health guidelines because those guidelines are based on self-report questionnaires.

Funding is named as the Dutch Brain Foundation. The supplied text does not give further conflict-of-interest details.

Do not tell patients that total sitting time was higher than controls. Total sedentary time did not differ (514 min/24 h vs 473 min/24 h; p = 0.291); the difference was that sitting or lying bouts were longer.