Identifying Changes in Functional Capacity of Cardiorespiratory Patients Undergoing Exercise Rehabilitation

Abstract

Heart failure (HF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are two common complex multimorbid cardiorespiratory diseases. Due to their complex nature, it is challenging to identify changes in health status of affected patients. In this study, we analyse the progression of functional capacity as a first step in identifying changes in disease status of HF and COPD patients. 60 patients (NHF=35, NCOPD=25) undergoing cardiopulmonary rehabilitation were included in this study. A six-minute walk test (6MWT) assessing the sixminute walking distance (6MWD) was used to monitor the functional capacity of these patients. Patients performed five 6MWTs in total (1 baseline, 4 follow-up) with spotcheck HR and SpO2 values also being measured before and after each 6MWT. The progression of the 6MWDs was analysed using a two-way mixed ANOVA. To predict changes in functional capacity, patients were divided into two groups (“improved” vs “not improved”) based on a minimal clinically significant distance change. A decision tree classifier was trained on 6MWD, HR and SpO2 data features and evaluated using balanced accuracy. The mixed ANOVA showed a significant interaction effect as well as significant between-subjects and withinsubject effects. The classifier showed good performance in predicting improvement of functional capacity.