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RA patients participated in less strenuous activities, had lower aerobic capacity
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Patients with rheumatoid arthritis appeared to spend less time in vigorous activities than healthy controls and had decreased energy and very low aerobic capacity compared to normative values, according to study results.
Researchers in the Netherlands systematically reviewed Medline, Cinahl, Embase, Cochrane and PsycINFO databases for literature on physical activity (PA) level and aerobic capacity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and compared it with healthy controls and a reference population.
Of 152 initially searched studies, 12 (10 cross-sectional studies and two cohort studies) were included. One study found PA energy expenditure of patients with RA was significantly decreased when measured by the doubly labeled water method, considered a gold standard. Three other studies discovered that resting energy expenditure was greater in patients with RA compared with healthy controls when adjusted for percentage of body fat. Five studies examining aerobic capacity showed that RA patients scored below the 10th percentile when comparing their aerobic levels with published normative values. Physical activity level was measured by questionnaires in six studies. Patients with RA spent more time engaged in light and moderate activities and less in vigorous activities compared with controls.
“Assessment methods, inclusion criteria and methodology of matching controls to patients were heterogeneous, complicating comparisons,” researchers said. “[Case-control study] results must be interpreted with caution. [Review results] cannot support or refute a conclusion that persons with RA have decreased aerobic capacity compared with healthy controls. This may reflect the fact that half the general population is inactive. However, when compared with normative values, patients as well as controls had a very low percentile rank of aerobic capacity.
“Patients with RA suffer a 60% greater risk of CVD. Whether this risk can be reduced by a moderately high or high aerobic capacity as in healthy subjects, should be a research priority.”
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