Published in:
01-12-2017 | Original Article
Long-term endurance training improves general health perception in multiple sclerosis patients with fatigue: results of an exploratory study
Published in: Sport Sciences for Health | Issue 3/2017
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Purpose
To determine if long-term endurance exercise improves quality of life (QOL) in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).
Methods
89 patients with relapsing–remitting MS and an EDSS of <3.5 participated in a prospective non-randomized controlled exploratory trial. The exercise program comprised a walking exercise three times weekly for 30 min (“interval training” twice weekly, “endurance training” once weekly) for 12 months. Participants were tested every 3 months on a treadmill according to a modified Naughton protocol. Fatigue was assessed by the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) and QOL by a German version of the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). Data were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measurements.
Results
20 patients without and 24 with fatigue completed the program. QOL was reduced in several subscales of the SF-36 in MS patients with fatigue at baseline: physical functioning (p < 0.001), physical role functioning (p < 0.002), bodily pain (p ≤ 0.04), vitality (p ≤ 0.001), social role functioning (p ≤ 0.004), emotional role functioning (p ≤ 0.03), mental health (p ≤ 0.006). Exercise training resulted in a significant improvement of the subscale general health perceptions (p ≤ 0.01).
Conclusions
Fatigue contributes significantly to QOL in MS patients. A significant improvement in the subscale general health perceptions was demonstrated by a 12-month endurance walking program in MS patients with fatigue.