Ab0236 Physical Activity in Adults With Inflammatory Arthritis: Latent Class Analysis Approach

Background: Physical activity (PA) and regular exercising are generally safe and have positive impact on patients with inflammatory arthritis. The adequate level of PA is considered beneficial for disease activity, muscle strength, flexibility and aerobic capacities of the patients. In addition, exercise helps to enhance energy and stamina by decreasing fatigue and improving sleep. The need for optimizing mental and physical health in patients could be met by exercising. Due to chronic illness, lower level of fitness, pain and biomechanical abnormalities as well as the fear of arthritis relapse or worsening by exercising, many patients avoid this activity. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate presence and level of PA in adults with inflammatory arthritis. We also tried to identify the most prevalent barriers in our patients for regular exercising. Methods: This was observational cross-sectional study after the approval of local Ethics Committee. The study enrolled 240 participants with inflammatory arthritis: 152 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 77 patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and 31 patients diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis (PsA). The patients were asked to sincerely answer International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), FACIT Fatigue Scale (FACIT), TAMPA scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK), the screening questionnaire for sarcopenia (SARC-F) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ9). The basic demographic, medical history and treatment information were obtained from the medical charts of the participants. We compared age, disease activity, fatigue score, risk for sarcopenia, level of kinesiophobia and symptoms of depression in groups with different levels of physical activity and between different diagnosis. The latent class analysis (LCA) statistical method is used to find potential subgroups with similar characteristics (latent classes) in order to evaluate groups with different level of physical activity. The descriptive statistics, Chi-squared test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation test were done in SPPS software, while LCA was performed in R software. Results: The study found that 11.6% patients reported low level of physical activity, while 60% of patients reported moderate level of physical activity. Patients with low level of physical active had higher level of fatigue (p=0,001) and risk of sarcopenia (p=0.006). (Table 1) There was positive correlation between IPAQ score and FACIT fatigue score (r=0.2, p=0.04) and negative between IPAQ and SARC-F score (r=-0.13, p=0.05). Synchronously, the LCA identified three latent classes with population share and predicted possibilities of belonging in each one. Patients with low disease activity had highest probability (30%) to be in the second class (population share 13.7%) characterized with older age, being overweight, lower education level, longer disease duration and steroid use, lowest possibilities of being in disease remission (35%). On the contrary, the possibility of having serious fatigue (60%), kinesiophobia (82%), depression symptoms (45%) and the risk of sarcopenia (78%) were highest in this class. In the third class (population share 29.3%) the probability of having high or moderate PA was almost 95%. The patient in this class had chance of being younger (78%), highly educated, employed without marriage and kids, highest possibilities of being in disease remission, having AS diagnosis, significant biologics use and less fatigue and depression. The class I (population share 57%) had the highest probability of having adults with moderate PA, middle aged, married, with kids and higher rate of comorbidities (Picture1). Conclusion: This study found that patients with inflammatory arthritis with moderate and high physical activity tend to have better control of disease activity, lower level of fatigue and depression. However, the kinesiophobia was omnipresent. There is a strong need for continuous education of patients with inflammatory arthritis about the benefits of PA and proper way to exercise. REFERENCES: NIL. Acknowledgements: NIL. Disclosure of Interests: None declared.