POS0696 CHARACTERIZATION OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY BEHAVIOUR IN VASCULITIS PATIENTS
Authors: K. Nain, V. Schönau, E. Araujo, P. Reis, I. Ebner, B. Coppers, K. Tascilar, A. Kleyer, G. Schett, A. M. Liphardt
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2024)

<h3>Background:</h3> Physical activity (PA) is a measure of physical function and related to quality of life. PA can be influenced by disease-specific symptoms, disability or fear of movement and physical activity-related health competence. There is currently little knowledge on the characteristics of PA behaviour in patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA) and anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) [1,2]. <h3>Objectives:</h3> To characterize PA behaviour and to assess health-related quality of life, disability, physical activity-related health competence, kinesiophobia, fatigue and their relationship to physical activity in patients with GCA and AAV. <h3>Methods:</h3> GCA and AAV patients (Internal Medicine 3 outpatient clinics Erlangen, Germany) were enrolled in this cross-sectional study after giving written informed consent. Subject characteristics, illness-related medical history, and disease scores (Vasculitis Damage Index [VDI], Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Scale [BVAS], visual analogue scale on pain [VAS-P] and disease activity [VAS-DA]) were retrieved from patient records. Subjects completed questionnaires on health-related quality of life (Short Form 36 [SF-36]), disability (Health Assessment Questionnaire [HAQ]), physical activity-related health competence (PAHCO), kinesiophobia (Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia [TSK]) and fatigue (Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy – Fatigue [FACIT-F]). PA in daily life was assessed by wrist (non-dominant) worn accelerometer (GENEActiv® [Activinsights Ltd, Kimbolton, UK]) for 14 days, and the international physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ). Accelerometer data was analysed using open-source package GGIR [3]. Pearson's correlation was computed to determine the relationship between PA behaviour and clinical scores. <h3>Results:</h3> Subject characteristics and general outcomes of the 50 participants (23 GCA, 27 AAV [16 GPA, 8 EGPA, 3 MPA)] are summarized in Table 1. Most of the daytime was spent in inactivity (mean 73.3 % in both groups), whereas moderate to vigorous PA in at least 1-minute-bouts reached 16.8 % of total physical activity (15.3 % in GCA, 18.0 % in AAV). About two thirds of moderate to vigorous PA was in 1-10 min bouts (59.5 % in GCA, 67.7 % in AAV). AAV patients showed higher mean PAHCO scores in all three dimensions. Duration of inactivity correlated negatively with FACIT-F (r= -0.433, p=0.024) and energy/fatigue subset of the SF-36 questionnaire (r= -0.456, p= 0.017) in AAV, but not in GCA. Patient reported PA by IPAQ shows higher duration of moderate to vigorous PA and lower duration of inactivity/sitting than accelerometric data. There was no association between duration of moderate to vigorous PA and clinical scores. <h3>Conclusion:</h3> These findings show that vasculitis patients spend most of their time in inactivity and that inactivity is related with fatigue in ANCA-associated vasculitis. Patients report a lack of advice on physical activity from health care providers (HCPs) for both diseases, GCA and AAV, highlighting the need for a better understanding of the relationship between physical activity and fatigue, and the importance of the assessment of physical activity in daily life.REFERENCES: NIL. <h3>REFERENCES:</h3> [1] Hernández-Hernández V et al. Rheumatology (Oxford, England) 2014; 53 (4): 722–31. [2] Swinnen TW et al. PloS one 2014; 9 (2): e85309. [3] Migueles JH et al. 2019, J Meas Phys Behav. 2(3), 188-196. <h3>Acknowledgements:</h3> This study was partially funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) – SFB 1483 – Project-ID 442419336, EmpkinS. <h3>Disclosure of Interests:</h3> <b>None declared.</b>