Physical Activity Behavior in Persons Newly Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis: Patterns and Correlates

Background: There is an abundant body of research on physical activity behavior among persons with multiple sclerosis (MS). Such research, however, typically has not focused on those newly diagnosed with the disease. This is important, as physical activity might be most amenable for change in the early stages of the disease and, therefore, yield long-term benefits across the lifespan with MS.

Objectives: This study examined current and long-term physical activity behavior and Capability-Opportunity-Motivation-Behavior (COM-B) constructs as correlates of physical activity in persons newly diagnosed with MS.

Methods: Persons newly diagnosed with MS (n=152), defined as a diagnosis within the past two years, completed an online Qualtrics survey. The survey assessed participant characteristics, physical activity levels, and theory-based physical activity determinants using demographic and clinical characteristic questionnaires, Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire (GLTEQ), Physical Activity Staging Questionnaire (PASQ), and COM-B constructs. The participants were classified into subgroups based on GLTEQ Health Contribution and PASQ scores. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and discriminant function analysis (DFA) were performed for examining the COM-B constructs that differentiated physical activity subgroups.

Results: The results indicated that 39.5% and 34.2% of the samples were classified as insufficiently active and/or not regularly active, respectively. MANOVA indicated a combination of all COM-B constructs differentiated current physical activity [Λ=.42, F(44, 256)=3.1, p<.001, η²=.35] and long-term physical activity subgroups [Λ=.41, F(44, 256)=3.3, p<.001, η²=.36]. DFA indicated that Intention, Action Control, Action Self-Efficacy, Action Planning, Outcome Expectation, Goal-Setting, and Recovery Self-Efficacy discriminated the current physical activity subgroups. Action Control, Intention, Action Planning, Goal-Setting, Action Self-Efficacy, Outcome Expectation, Recovery Self-Efficacy, and Fatigue discriminated the long-term physical activity subgroups.

Conclusions: Our results indicated that those newly diagnosed with MS were largely physically inactive. We further identified COM-B constructs in the Capability and Motivation domains as the primary correlates of physical activity in persons newly diagnosed with MS. Such research might inform physical activity promotion interventions for this MS subpopulation.

Keywords: newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis, physical activity, behavior change, Capability-Opportunity-Motivation-Behavior (COM-B) model