Long-time follow up of physical activity level among older adults with rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Background: Physical activity and exercise are acknowledged as important parts in the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, long-term maintenance of exercise is known to be difficult. The aim of this study was to evaluate change in physical activity and physical fitness after four years in older adults with RA who had previously participated in exercise with person-centred guidance compared to controls. Method: A follow-up study was performed where older adults (> 65 years) who had participated in a randomized controlled trial where they were allocated to either exercise with person-centred guidance or home-based, lightintensity exercise (controls) were invited to one visit and assessed with performance-based test, blood-sampling and self-reported questionnaires. Forty-seven out of 70 older adults accepted participation, 24 from the exercise group and 23 from the control group. Comparisons of the result with baseline values were performed and explanatory factors for increase of physical activity were examined with logistic regression. Results: The result show that there was no significant difference in weekly hours of physical activity when groups where compared. However, participants in the exercise group rated significantly increased weekly hours of physical activity after four years (p = 0.004) when compared to baseline. Higher levels of fatigue, BMI and physical activity, at baseline were negatively associated with increased physical activity after four years. There was no significant difference in change of physical fitness between the groups. Within group analysis showed that the control group reported increased pain (p = 0.035), fatigue (p = 0.023) increased number of tender joints (p = 0.028) higher disease activity (p = 0.007) and worsening of global health (p = 0.004) when compared to baseline while the exercise group remained at the same level as at baseline. Conclusion: These results indicate that introducing moderate-to high intensity exercise with person-centred guidance might favor increased physical activity after four years in older adults with RA. Previous partaking in moderate-to high intensity exercise might also be protective against increased disease activity, pain and fatigue over time.

Correlates of physical activity in adults with spondyloarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic review

“…However, in the multivariate model, only reduced activity due to fatigue and physical fatigue remained significant. Predominantly, our findings support recent longitudinal studies showing a negative relationship between fatigue and PA [ 89 , 90 ]. Interestingly, disease activity was inconsistently related to PA, however, almost half of the associations were negative (42%, n = 13/31).…”

Behavioral weight loss interventions for people with physical disabilities: A systematic review

“…After hand‐searching the reference lists of these articles, additional 23 studies were included, leading to a sum of 60 studies (64 papers) in the qualitative synthesis (Figure 1). 33–96 …”

Effects of lifestyle physical activity and sedentary behaviour interventions on disease activity and patient- and clinician- important health outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic review with meta-analysis

“…BGD at 12 months only QoL (RAQoL): IG: ↑*, CG: ↑*, sig. BGD at 9 and 12 months Veldhuijzen et al, 2021 [ 51 ] England IG: 43 55.4 ± 12.1 63 CG: 45 54.5 ± 13.0 69 IG: 3-month exercise program and SDT-based psychological intervention One to one consultations with BC counsellor: to support autonomous motivation for PA RA tailored exercise program: 3 × 30min/wk independent exercise sessions at gym (×2) and home (×1), semi-supervised CG: RA tailored exercise program 3 months baseline PI: 3 months FU: 6 months FU: 12 months SR: IPAQ DAS28: IG: ~ , CG: ~ , no BGD MVPA (mins/week): IG: ~ , CG: ↓, sig. BGD at 3, 6 and 12 months FA (HAQ): IG: ↓*, CG: ↑*, sig.…”