The Influence of Dietary Habits and Physical Activity on Quality of Life of Peripheral Arterial Disease in Patients Hospitalized at the Department of Vascular Surgery and Transplantation, Medical University in Białystok

Overview

This study examined the association between dietary habits, physical activity, and health-related quality of life in 127 patients with peripheral arterial disease hospitalized at a tertiary vascular surgery department. The research employed standardized assessment instruments to characterize lifestyle factors and quality-of-life outcomes across a hospitalized PAD cohort.

Methods and approach

A cross-sectional study design was implemented with 127 PAD patients. Physical activity was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire short version. Dietary quality was evaluated with the Food Frequency Questionnaire-6. Health-related quality of life was measured using the Short Form-36 instrument. Correlational and categorical analyses were performed to examine associations between lifestyle variables and quality-of-life domains.

Key Findings

Educational level demonstrated positive correlation with diet quality (p=0.001), with higher education associated with greater consumption of high-quality food products. Age showed inverse correlation with physical activity levels (p<0.001). Physical activity category membership was associated with statistically significant differences in SF-36 physical component summary scores (p=0.047). Vitamin supplementation was not associated with improved mental component summary scores; patients using supplements demonstrated lower mental component outcomes. Counter-intuitively, higher physical activity correlated with lower mental component summary scores, while greater sedentary time correlated with higher mental component summary scores.

Implications

The findings indicate that lifestyle intervention protocols for PAD patients require stratification by educational attainment and age-adjusted expectations regarding physical activity engagement. Educational level emerges as a potentially modifiable variable associated with dietary behavior patterns. The inverse age-physical activity relationship suggests that age-appropriate activity targets may be warranted in clinical management strategies. Physical activity demonstrates robust association with physical health domains of quality of life, supporting its continued emphasis in vascular disease management. The counterintuitive mental health observations warrant further investigation and suggest that psychological adjustment factors may operate independently from activity intensity or supplementation approaches. The disconnect between physical activity intensity and mental wellbeing metrics indicates that mental health dimensions in PAD patients may be mediated by distinct physiological or psychosocial mechanisms not addressed by standard lifestyle intensification strategies. Clinical implementation should acknowledge these domain-specific associations and avoid assuming unified quality-of-life improvements across all dimensions.