AB1222 PATIENT PREFERENCES FOR THE USE OF DIGITAL TOOLS AND SOCIAL MEDIA IN DIET AND EXERCISE INTERVENTIONS
Authors: W. Benjamin Nowell, Kelly Gavigan, Jeffrey Curtis, Shilpa Venkatachalam, Francois Ban, Amin Yakubu, Alexis Ogdie
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2019)

<h3>Background</h3> Healthy behavior changes such as improving diet/exercise are important to improve outcomes in rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease (RMD) patients. These changes require incentives, whether internal or external motivation or social support. <h3>Objectives</h3> To assess feasibility of using digital symptom tracking and social media peer support to conduct diet/exercise health behavior change interventions among adults with inflammatory arthritis (IA) and osteoarthritis (OA). <h3>Methods</h3> A 37-item cross-sectional survey was developed and administered online and via mobile app in the ArthritisPower research registry. Participants (pts) were eligible if they were ≥ 19 years of age, resided in the US, and reported physician diagnosis of IA or OA. Pts reported on use of technology and social media, experience with exercise and weight loss programs, and interest in various program features. We descriptively reported differences between respondents with IA (RA, PsA, AS) and OA. <h3>Results</h3> 418 pts completed the survey. A majority were female (89.5%) and white (89.5%); mean age was 56 (10.5). The proportion of pts who were obese (BMI &gt;30) was higher among OA than IA pts (67.7% and 50.0%, respectively; p&lt;0.001). Most pts were willing to provide blood samples remotely and use WiFi-enabled digital scale and blood pressure monitor for a trial (Table). Interest in social media for peer support and apps differed between IA vs. OA pts: more IA pts used an app to help them exercise (35.1% vs. 19.2% of OA pts, p=0.001) and were interested in using an app to track diet and exercise in the context of peer support on Facebook (72.2% vs. 62.3% of OA pts, p=0.04). The most commonly used social media platform overall was Facebook (93.3% of pts) followed by Twitter (51.9%) and Instagram (41.9%). Pts cited pain/difficulty moving (57.4%) and sedentary behavior, such as watching TV, (47.6%), as their biggest weight loss challenges. OA pts reported depression (46.9%, p=0.01) and disliking exercise (34.6%, p=0.003) as bigger challenges to weight loss than did pts with IA (34.0% and 20.8% respectively). Motivations to exercise also differed between groups: more IA than OA pts said building muscle was a top motivation (54.5% and 43.1%, respectively; p=0.03). <h3>Conclusion</h3> Program focus and format may need to be tailored depending on arthritis type, but pts with both IA and OA are interested in social media peer support and digital symptom tracking to motivate achievement of health behavior change goals. <h3> Disclosure of Interests</h3> W. Benjamin Nowell: None declared, Kelly Gavigan: None declared, Jeffrey Curtis: None declared, Shilpa Venkatachalam: None declared, Francois Ban: None declared, Amin Yakubu: None declared, Alexis Ogdie Grant/research support from: (To my university) Novartis, Pfizer, Grant/research support from: Novartis, Pfizer, Grant/research support from: Novartis, Pfizer, Grant/research support from: Novartis, Pfizer, Consultant for: AbbVie, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Corrona, Eli Lilly and Company, Novartis, Pfizer, and Takeda, Consultant for: AbbVie, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Corrona, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer Inc, Takeda, Consultant for: Abbvie, Amgen, BMS, Celgene, Corrona, Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer, Takeda, Consultant for: Abbvie, Amgen, BMS, Celgene, Corrona, Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer, Takeda