Takeaway
- Majority of people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) reported some physical activity (PA) when starting methotrexate (MTX); 28% of participants performed no PA when starting MTX.
- 10% of those performing PA when starting MTX stopped over the first year.
- Smoking, higher disability and greater socioeconomic deprivation were associated with stopping PA over the first year of MTX therapy.
Why this matters
- Public health strategies aiming to maintain or promote PA in RA need to consider socio-economic barriers when designing and delivering interventions.
Study details
- This analysis included 1468 people with early RA (median age, 60 years; 65.2% women) starting methotrexate treatment using data from the Rheumatoid Arthritis Medication Study (RAMS).
- Funding: Medical Research Council, Versus Arthritis and the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre.
Key results
- PA levels at baseline were:
- no PA: 27.8%;
- low PA (1-3 days/week): 35.3%; and
- high PA (4-7 days/week): 36.9%.
- 79.3% of participants maintained some PA or improved PA over the first 6 months of treatment (6 to 12 months: 80.7%).
- 24.1% of participants reduced PA by 6 months, with 11.3% stopping PA completely (6 to 12 months: 22.6% and 10.2% respectively).
- Higher disability (OR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.02-1.80) and current smoking (OR, 1.47; 95% CI, 0.99-2.18) were associated with reduced PA, but the association with current smoking was not statistically significant.
- Current smoking and higher disability were associated with stopping PA over the first year of MTX treatment (OR, 5.83; 95% CI, 1.98-17.20 and OR, 2.43; 95% CI, 1.20-4.91, respectively).
- Greater socio-economic deprivation was associated with stopping PA (least vs most deprived: OR, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.09-1.11), but the association was not statistically significant.
Limitations
- PA was self-reported.
This clinical summary originally appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.
