Relationships between physical activity levels and disease activity, functional disability and kinesiophobia in chronic rheumatic diseases

Objective. - Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthritis (AS) exhibit a high incidence of cardiovascular mortality. They present with a low level of physical activity (PA) that may be related to low levels of PA in those with chronic rheumatic diseases: kinesiophobia or the fear of movement. Therefore, this study aimed to verify if there correlations exist between PA levels and disease activity (DA), functional disability (FD) and kinesiophobia. Equipment and methods. - Fifty RA and fifty AS patients, along with twenty-five healthy age-matched subjects for each disease group were included in the study. DA was evaluated by a clinical test, while FD, kinesiophobia and PA levels were evaluated by questionnaires. The PA questionnaire consisted of four different categories: commuting, sports, household and work/school activities. Statistical analyses were conducted by Student's t-tests and Pearson or their non-parametric tests Mann-Whitney's U and Spearman. Results. - The PA levels were significantly lower in the patients (P = 0.008 for RA and P = 0.050 for AS) compared to the healthy controls. In the RA group, there was a low correlation between the sports score and kinesiophobia (CC = -0.275; P = 0.039); while in the AS group, there was low correlation between the sports score and FD (CC = -0.316; P = 0.048) and DA (CC = -0.404; P = 0.015). Strategic therapies involving participation in sports activities should be developed for patients with RA, and the EULAR recommendations for therapeutic education must be implemented in clinical practice to overcome the barrier of kinesiophobia. (c) 2023 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.