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Pediatric Rheumatology
Published in: Pediatric Rheumatology 1/2015

Open Access 01-12-2015 | Research article

Reduced physical activity in children and adolescents with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis despite satisfactory control of inflammation

Authors: Anna-Helene Bohr, Susan Nielsen, Klaus Müller, Freddy Karup Pedersen, Lars Bo Andersen

Published in: Pediatric Rheumatology | Issue 1/2015

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Abstract

Background

Vascular health is of concern in patients with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) since Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) epidemiologically has a well-described association with premature development of atherosclerosis. Chronic inflammation with persisting systemic circulating inflammatory proteins may be a cause of vascular damage, but general physical inactivity could be an important contributor. Pain and fatigue are common complaints in patients with JIA and may well lead to an inactive sedentary lifestyle. For this reason we assessed the physical activity (PA) objectively in patients with moderate to severe Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) in comparison with gender and age matched healthy schoolchildren, and looked for associations between PA and features of JIA.

Methods

One hundred thirty-three patients, 7–20 years of age, participated. Disease activity, disability, functional ability, and pain were assessed and PA was measured by accelerometry through 7 days and compared to PA in age- and gender-matched healthy schoolchildren.

Results

We found a significantly lower level of PA in patients compared to gender- and age-matched healthy schoolchildren both in average activity (counts per minute, cpm) (475.6 vs. 522.7, p = 0.0000018) and in minutes per day spent with cpm >1500 (67.9 vs. 76.4, p = 0.0000014), with cpm >2000 (moderate physical activity) (48.4 vs. 52.8, p = 0.0001, and with cpm >3000 (high physical activity) (24.7 vs. 26.5, p = 0.00015). A negative association (β = −0.213, p = 0.014) between active disease in weight bearing joints and high physical activity remained the only significant association between disease related factors and PA. Of the girls 19 % and of the boys 45 % (vs. 39 % and 61 % in the reference group) met standards set by Danish Health Authorities for daily PA in childhood.

Conclusion

Children and adolescents with JIA are less physically active than their healthy peers and less active than recommended for general health by the Danish Health Authorities. This is not explained by pain or objective signs of inflammation. When inflammation has been curbed, restoration of an active healthy lifestyle should be highly prioritized.
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Metadata
Title
Reduced physical activity in children and adolescents with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis despite satisfactory control of inflammation
Authors
Anna-Helene Bohr
Susan Nielsen
Klaus Müller
Freddy Karup Pedersen
Lars Bo Andersen
Publication date
01-12-2015
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Pediatric Rheumatology / Issue 1/2015
Electronic ISSN: 1546-0096
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12969-015-0053-5

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