Impact of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on physical activity of patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices—A remote monitoring study

Objectives The study aims to investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on physical activity and frequency of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapies of patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices. Methods and results Physical activity, heart rate and ICD-therapies were assessed via routine remote monitoring over two years. We focussed on a 338-day period during COVID-19 pandemic that was divided in 6 time-intervals defined by public health interventions and compared to the previous regular year. Paired nonparametric longitudinal analysis was performed to detect differences between time-intervals. To model effects of age, sex and time we applied a nonparametric ANOVA-type-statistic. 147 patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices were analysed. Longitudinal analysis of physical activity in 2019 and 2020 showed a specific weekly and seasonal pattern. Physical activity was reduced during the pandemic (mean daily physical activity 2019: 12.4% vs. 2020: 11.5%; p