Exercise-induced Improvements of Inflammatory Status in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis
Condition: Rheumatoid Arthritis
MeSH terms: Arthritis; Arthritis, Rheumatoid
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The primary aim of the study is to investigate if 10 weeks of high intensity interval
      training improve inflammatory status in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
    

Detailed description: 
      Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many
      tissues and organs, but principally attacks synovial joints. Although the cause of rheumatoid
      arthritis is unknown, autoimmunity plays a role in both the chronicity and progression, and
      RA is considered as a systemic autoimmune disease.

      Due to chronic inflammatory status, RA-patients are at higher risk of developing
      cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared to the general population. Accumulating evidence
      indicates that regular physical activity has beneficial effects on RA. The mechanisms behind
      exercise-induce improvements are none the less unclear and more research is needed to better
      understand the beneficial effects of exercise training in this patient group.

      Recently, promising results from gene expression studies of blood cells have revealed
      unexplored fields of biomarker discovery and gene expression profiling of disease. Due to
      easy accessible and minimally invasive sample collection, gene expression profiling of whole
      blood might turn out to be a promising tool in molecular diagnostics and clinical medicine.
      To our knowledge, whole-genome transcriptional changes have not previously been studied in
      RA-patients undergoing a high-intensity exercise program.

      Hypothesis: Ten weeks of high intensity interval training improves the inflammatory status,
      quality of life, and known risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.

      In addition to measure traditionally inflammatory markers in the blood, whole genome analysis
      will be made.
    

Intervention name(s): high intensity interval training; Control
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): First 10 week of high intensity interval training, twice a week. The interval training session consists of 10 minutes warm up at 70 percent of maximal heart rate and continues with 4 times 4 minutes of high intensity intervals at 90 to 95 percent of maximal heart rate separated by 3 minutes of active brakes in between at 70 percent of maximal heart rate. Training will be performed by cycling. Training intensity will be supervised through the use of polar puls monitors and the BORG scale of subjective perceived exhaustion.
Second 10 weeks participants are instructed not to change their dietary patterns or physical activity levels during the study period.; First 10 weeks participants are instructed not to change their dietary patterns or physical activity levels, and to continue their habitually lifestyle.
Second 10 week of high intensity interval training, twice a week. The interval training session consists of 10 minutes warm up at 70 percent of maximal heart rate and continues with 4 times 4 minutes of high intensity intervals at 90 to 95 percent of maximal heart rate separated by 3 minutes of active brakes in between at 70 percent of maximal heart rate. Training will be performed by cycling. Training intensity will be supervised through the use of polar puls monitors and the BORG scale of subjective perceived exhaustion.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Crossover Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: High intensity exercise; cardiovascular risk factors