Objectively Quantified Physical Activity In Persons With Multiple Sclerosis

Background: There is limited information quantifying the extent to which persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) meet public health guidelines for sufficient moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA).

Objectives: Using accelerometry as an objective measure of physical activity, this study compared levels of MVPA between persons with MS and healthy controls and the rates of meeting public health guidelines for MVPA (i.e., 30 minutes per day). We further compared levels of MVPA among persons with MS based on sociodemographic and clinical characteristics.

Methods: 800 persons with MS and 137 controls wore an ActiGraph accelerometer (7164 model) on a belt around the waist during the waking hours of the day over a 7-day period for capturing minutes of MVPA per day. The data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0.

Results: After controlling for covariates (i.e., age, sex, education, race, & income), there was a moderate (d=0.68) and statistically significant (F=47.2, p=.0001) difference of 13.1 minutes of MVPA per day (95% CI=9.4−16.8) between MS and controls. There further was a difference between groups in the percent of persons meeting public health guidelines for MVPA (χ²=50.7, p<.0001) with rates of 20% and 47% for MS and controls, respectively. Among those with MS, MVPA significantly differed as functions of education, employment status, clinical-course of MS, disease duration, and disability status.

Conclusions: We provide the first data from an objective physical activity outcome with a large sample of MS and controls indicating that only a small proportion of persons with MS are achieving adequate amounts of daily MVPA.