TEAM-REHABILITATION BENEFITS BODY COMPOSITION AND FUNCTIONAL OUTCOME BEYOND TIME OF THE REHABILITATION PERIOD IN INFLAMMATORY ARTHRITIS, OF WHICH BODY COMPOSITION IS LINKED TO CHANGE IN LEVEL OF CARDIORESPIRATORY FITNESS, WHEREAS MUSCLE MASS AND STRENGTH ARE LINKED TO PHYSICAL FUNCTIONING

• Low physical activity, accumulated disability and disease chronicity contribute to adverse body composition and reduced cardiorespiratory fitness in patients with chronic inflammatory diseases. In the general population, physical exercise improves body composition, muscle strength and aerobic capacity but in inflammatory diseases it is not well established.Objectives:To investigate whether 1) exercise intervention in patients with arthritis affects body composition, physical and aerobic capacity, and whether 2) body composition and physical capacity could explain outcomes as HAQ and aerobic capacity.Methods:Consecutive patients with inflammatory arthritis and a clinical need for rehabilitation, ages 18-80 years, participated in a team-rehabilitation program for 4 weeks. Anthropometry, body composition assessed with bioelectrical impedance analysis, muscle force with hand grip strength and Times sit-to-stand test (TST), activity limitation with the HAQ score and cardiorespiratory fitness with the Åstrand 6-minute cycle test for VO2 max were measured pre-rehabilitation and after 3 and 12 months. The ANOVA model with Bonferroni correction, adjusted for age, sex and baseline measures, was used for the pairwise comparisons of repeated measures overtime. Association between body composition, physical functioning, and the course of HAQ and cardiorespiratory fitness for 12 months was determined with linear mixed models adjusted for age, gender and comorbidity.Results:The study evaluated 149 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriasis arthritis, spondylarthritis and juvenile idiopathic arthritis, aged mean (SD) 53(13) years, 74% women, disease duration 21(13) years, HAQ 1.1(0.6) at inclusion and DAS28 4.1(1.3) for those with RA.There was a statistically significant reduction of BMI between pre-rehabilitation and after 3 months, reduction of waist circumference, body fat, fat mass and the fat mass index after 3 and 12 months, adjusted p<0.05. The muscle mass of total body, arms and legs did not change significantly post-rehabilitation compared to pre-rehabilitation. Hand grip strength and TST improved together with reduction of HAQ and increased VO2 max after 3 and 12 months, adjusted p<0.05 adjusted for age, sex and baseline measures.The HAQ overtime was independently associated with total body muscle mass, legs muscle mass, hand grip strength, and TST pre-rehabilitation, but not to the change of body composition overtime.The course of VO2 max overtime was independently associated with pre-rehabilitation BMI, waist circumference, muscle mass of total body, arms and legs, fat mass, body fat, the fat mass index and TST, as well as with change of BMI, waist circumference, fat mass and the fat mass index between pre-rehabilitation and after 3 and 12 months.Conclusion:We observed benefits of intervention with a team-rehabilitation program for 4 weeks on body composition profile, functioning, physical limitation and cardiorespiratory fitness, which were presented beyond the time of the rehabilitation period for up to 12 months. Different aspects of body composition and physical capacity were associated with levels of disability measured with HAQ and with cardiorespiratory fitness. This study indicates that in patients with inflammatory arthritis, muscle mass and strength were linked to HAQ over time, whereas the measures of body composition could be more linked to cardiorespiratory fitness than to HAQ.Disclosure of Interests:None declared

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