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Background: Although treatment is available for most of the Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases (RMDs), a majority of patients still report relevant disease symptoms even after appropriate treatment. This residual disease activity manifests itself as persistent fatigue, pain and morning stiffness and often has a significant impact on the lives of RMD patients. A healthy lifestyle might reduce the disease burden of RMD, but long-term prospective data is scarce. Therefore, we set up a prospective cohort study to investigate the added value of an online, interactive lifestyle intervention program in patients with an inflammatory arthritis (IA), osteoarthritis (OA) or fibromyalgia (FM). Objectives: To evaluate the effect of an online, interactive lifestyle intervention program on the lives of patients with an IA, OA or FM by looking at the change in Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL), measured with the Short Form-36 (SF-36). Methods: RMD patients could register themselves for this prospective cohort study, after which the diagnosis was verified by the treating rheumatologist. All consecutively registered patients with an IA, OA or FM were offered to follow the online, interactive lifestyle intervention program. The lifestyle intervention program (called Leef! met reuma) consists of a 3-month intensive part, followed by an 21-month aftercare program. The online program focuses on 4 pillars: nutrition, exercise, relaxation and sleep. The prescribed diet is comparable to the Mediterranean diet, with an emphasis on unprocessed foods (especially vegetables). The online SF-36 questionnaire was used to measure HRQoL at baseline and after 1 and 2 years. Weight, BMI and waist circumference were measured 3-monthly in the first year and 6-monthly in the second year. Descriptive statistics were used to compare HRQoL. Results: Of the 264 patients studied, 88 were diagnosed with IA, 105 were diagnosed with OA and 71 with FM. At baseline, patients had a mean age of 51.9 years (SD 11.6) and were most often female (93%). The mean weight and corresponding BMI was 79,5 kg (SD 13,9) and 27,3 (SD 4,5), while the mean waist circumference was 94.9 cm (SD 12.7) (Table 1). In all three groups the largest decrease in weight, BMI and waist circumference was seen in the first three months, thereafter the values slightly increased, but even after 2 years these results were better than at baseline ((-2.50 (SD 10.2),(-0.80 (SD 3.4),(-2.74 (SD 9.9), respectively). HRQoL improved in all patients, especially in the activity limitation domains (Figure 1A-C). Noteworthy is the fact that patients with FM scored worse on all domains, followed by IA and OA patients. Conclusion: An 3-month online, interactive lifestyle intervention has a positive long-term effect on health-related quality of life of RMD patients. Unfortunately, no data was available on disease activity in patients with inflammatory arthritis. Therefore, future research is needed to evaluate the effect of an online, interactive lifestyle intervention program on disease activity or inflammation in IA patients. Acknowledgements: NIL. Disclosure of Interests: None declared.
Slingerland et al. (Sat,) studied this question.