Physical activity may improve quality of life, self-reported function in RA, PsA, SpA
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Physical activity can lead to improved quality of life and self-reported function in rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and spondyloarthritis, according to data published in Arthritis Care & Research.
“During the past several decades, good-quality evidence has accumulated on the effectiveness of aerobic and muscle strengthening physical activity (PA) to reduce disease related symptoms such as pain and comorbidity risk in people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA),” Mathilda Björk, PhD, of Linköping University, in Norrköping, Sweden, and colleagues wrote. “Nevertheless, more studies are needed to determine whether PA can improve quality of life (QoL) and self-reported function for patients with inflammatory arthritis (IA).”
“Emphasizing self-reported measures will capture how the patient experiences the effect of PA interventions,” they added. “Patients’ experiences and engagement in rehabilitation are known to be of utmost importance for successful outcomes. Using knowledge about the effects of PA in terms of self-reported measures in everyday practice enables patient-centered care and also adherence of PA interventions. Since PA is effective and safe with few reported adverse effects, it should be part of standard care for patients with IA.”
To examine the effectiveness of physical activity in improving quality of life and self-reported function in adults in RA, PsA and SpA, Björk and colleagues conducted a comprehensive literature search. The researchers analyzed studies in PubMed, Embase, CINAHL and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials published through Sept. 21, 2020, specifically for randomized controlled trials of adults with RA, PsA or SpA who underwent interventions that met the WHO definition of physical activity.
In all, Björk and colleagues included 55 randomized clinical trials in their systematic review, of which 37 were included in the meta-analysis. The researchers performed screening, bias risk assessments and data extraction for all studies. The meta-analyses were additionally conduced using a random-effects model.
According to the researchers, among the 55 total studies included, 76% assessed RA, 20% investigated SpA and 4% examined patients with PsA. In the RA studies, physical activity affected quality of life and function, compared with the inactive controls. However, this was not sustained in comparison with the active controls. Meanwhile, the effects of physical activity on quality of life in patients with SpA were in favor of the control group. In PsA, physical activity appeared to have no effect on quality of life.
The impact of physical activity on self-reported function was evident compared with inactive controls, and sustained in terms of fatigue and pain, across all three diseases. The effect size was below 0.3 in the majority of the comparisons.
“The synthesized evidence shows that PA can lead to less pain, fatigue and improved mental and activity performance in inflammatory arthritis with the most comprehensive information on RA and SpA,” Björk and colleagues wrote. “Clinical implications support the use of instruments capturing the patient-reported outcomes to assess a larger variety of effects of PA in IA in addition to commonly used objective outcome measures. This might improve both short-term and long-term compliance to PA interventions with health benefits for the individual.”
“Patient reported aspects of health are as important as objective measures of disease activity and function in the care of patients with IA,” they added. “Future research needs to focus on effects of PA in PsA, as well as on larger, powered studies with standardized protocols to understand the effect of different kind of PA interventions.”
Collapse
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts