Relationship of Meeting Physical Activity Guidelines With Health‐Related Utility

Abstract

Objective Health-related utility measures overall health status and quality of life and is commonly incorporated into cost-effectiveness analyses. This study investigates whether attainment of federal physical activity guidelines translates into better health-related utility in adults with or at risk for knee osteoarthritis (OA). Methods Cross-sectional data from 1908 adults with or at risk for knee OA participating in the accelerometer ancillary study of the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) were assessed. Physical activity was measured using 7 days of accelerometer monitoring and was classified as 1) Meeting Guidelines (≥150 bouted moderate-to-vigorous [MV] minutes per week); 2) Insufficiently Active (≥1 MV bout[s] per week but below guidelines); or 3) Inactive (zero MV bouts per week). A Short Form 6D (SF6-D) health-related utility score was derived from patient-reported health status. Relationship of physical activity levels to median health-related utility adjusted for socioeconomic and health factors was tested using quantile regression. Results Only 13% of participants met physical activity guidelines; 45% were inactive. Relative to the Inactive, median health-related utility scores were significantly greater for the Meeting Guidelines (0.063; confidence interval [CI] 0.055–0.071) and Insufficiently Active (0.059; CI 0.054–0.064) groups. These differences showed a statistically significant linear trend and strong cross-sectional relationship with physical activity level even after adjusting for socioeconomic and health factors. Conclusions We found a significant positive relationship between physical activity level and health-related utility. Interventions that encourage adults, including persons with knee OA, to increase physical activity even if recommended levels are not attained may improve their quality of life.

The relationship between SF-6D utility scores and lifestyle factors across three life stages: evidence from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health

“…Lower physical activity was associated with poorer SF-6D utility scores in this research, supported by others [37,38,14]. Across the three life-stages, physically inactive women had markedly lower SF-6D scores than highly active women which had the greatest effect on the health of older women.…”

Osteoarthritis year in review 2015: clinical

“…There was a graded association between sedentary behavior and elevated systolic blood pressure, independent of moderate-vigorous physical activity minutes, in persons with or at higher risk for knee OA in the Osteoarthritis Initiative (8). In another report utilizing the Osteoarthritis Initiative, physical activity level was associated with health-related utility (9). …”

Physical Activity Patterns Among Older Adults With and Without Knee Osteoarthritis in Six European Countries

“…Other studies have shown that confounders regarding the association between physical activity and knee OA influence results substantially (30). To address this issue, the following variables were considered as potential confounders in the analyses: age in years, sex, and educational attainment, which summarizes the highest achieved level of school education, classified as elementary school not completed (none), elementary school completed (low), vocational or general secondary education (middle), and college or university education (high).…”