Low cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is a significant predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD), and interventions aiming at increasing CRF are known to reduce CVD risk. This study was planned to assess the effects of such an intervention on CVD risk in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) «Stavropoulos-Kalinoglou A, Metsios GS, Veldhuijzen...»1.
Methods
40 age, gender, body mass index (BMI) and disease duration matched RA patients were allocated to either an exercise (receiving 6 months individualised aerobic and resistance high intensity exercise intervention, three times per week), or control (receiving advice on exercise benefits and lifestyle changes) arm. Participants were assessed at baseline, 3 and 6 months for aerobic capacity (VO2max), individual CVD risk factors (blood pressure, lipids, insulin resistance, body composition), 10-year CVD event probability and RA characteristics (C-reactive protein (CRP), Disease Activity Score 28 (DAS28) and Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ)).
Results
There were no differences between groups at baseline in any of the assessed variables. VO2max (p = 0.001), blood pressure (systolic: p < 0.001; diastolic: p = 0.003), triglycerides (p = 0.030), high density lipoprotein (HDL; p = 0.042), total cholesterol: HDL ratio (p = 0.005), BMI (p = 0.001), body fat (p = 0.026), 10-year CVD event probability (p = 0.012), CRP (p = 0.042), DAS28 (p = 0.008) and HAQ (p = 0.003) were all significantly improved in the exercise versus the control group. The change in VO2max was the strongest predictor for the observed improvements in all of the assessed CVD risk factors and disease characteristics.
Conclusions
Individualised aerobic and resistance exercise intervention can lead to significantly improved CRF, individual CVD risk factors, composite CVD risk, and disease activity and severity in RA patients
In recent EULAR recommendation «Rausch Osthoff AK, Vlieland TPMV, Ferreira RJO, et...»2 it is expressed that physical activity is important and beneficial for patients with inflammatory joint diseases for many reasons, but it also increases the cardiovascular fitness.
Parts of the text were translated from Finnish into English using artificial intelligence. The translation was reviewed by an expert.