Relationship between disease activity level and physical activity in rheumatoid arthritis using a triaxial accelerometer and self-reported questionnaire

Abstract

Objective This study evaluated the relationship between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity level and physical activity (PA) by using an accelerometer and self-reported questionnaire. Results The cross-sectional study was part of a cohort study designed to determine disease activity is associated with PA in RA patients. We classified patients with a Disease Activity Score 28-erythrocyte sedimentation rate (DAS28-ESR) of less than and higher than 3.2 into the low-disease-activity (LDA) group and moderate/high-disease-activity (MHDA) group, respectively. We measured the wear time, time of vigorous-intensity PA, moderate-intensity PA, light-intensity PA, and sedentary behavior per day using a triaxial accelerometer. 34 patients were included in the study. The accelerometer-measured moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) was 17.2 min/day and 10.6 min/day in the LDA group and MHDA group (p < 0.05), respectively. There was no significant association between RA disease activity level and accelerometer-measured PA with adjustment for age and Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue score. There was no correlation between accelerometer-measured MVPA and self-reported MVPA in the MHDA group, but these factors were correlated in the LDA group (rs = 0.57, p < 0.05). In conclusion, no significant association was noted between RA disease activity level and accelerometer-measured PA.

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

“…Disease activity was unrelated to PA when pooling the results based on the most adjusted statistics or when considering studies utilizing objective measures of PA. One possible reason for the inconsistency in results might relate to whether participants were experiencing a flare when PA was measured. Further, the relationship between disease activity and PA might be dependent on the contribution of other variables in explaining PA. For example, recent reports have shown no association between PA and disease activity, when controlling for age and fatigue [ 91 ]. BMI and obesity have been shown to negatively associate with PA in the general population [ 86 ] and those with hip osteoarthritis [ 92 ], yet our findings suggest this relationship is more inconsistent in people living with RA (38%, n = 8/21).…”