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Motivational texts, counseling reduced daily sitting time, improved subjective results for RA patients
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A combination of motivational text messages and individual counseling sessions encouraged patients with rheumatoid arthritis to become more active and improved their patient-reported outcomes, according to results presented at the EULAR Annual Congress.
“We know that behavioral approaches are effective in reducing sedentary behavior in healthy populations,” Tanja Thomsen, Copenhagen Centre for Arthritis Research, Centre for Rheumatology and Spine Diseases, Rigshospitalet, Denmark, said in a press release from the EULAR. “Our findings support the introduction for behavioral approaches as an effective way to improve the health of rheumatoid arthritis patients, which may be applicable in other populations with chronic disease and limited mobility.”
Thomsen and colleagues recruited 150 adult patients with rheumatoid arthritis and who also had a self-reported daily sitting time of more than 5 hours and a health assessment questionnaire score of less than 2.5. Investigators randomized 75 patients to receive three individual motivational counseling sessions with a health professional and to receive text messages that focused on improving motivation for low-intensity physical activity to reduce sedentary behavior (intervention group) and the other 75 patients maintained their normal lifestyles (control group).
The change in daily sitting time was measured with ActivPAL. Investigators also assessed patient-reported outcomes and cardio-metabolic biomarkers.
Results showed three patients were lost to follow-up after 16 weeks. Investigators noted the patients in the intervention group had a mean decrease in daily sitting time of 1.6 hours/day, whereas the control patients had an increase of 0.59 hours/day. The intervention group also had better scores for pain, fatigue, function and total cholesterol compared with the control group. – by Monica Jaramillo
References:
Thomsen T, et al. Abstract #OP0286-HPR. Presented at: EULAR Annual Congress; June 8-11, 2016; London.
Disclosure: Thomsen reports no relevant financial disclosures.