Musculoskeletal complaints, physical activity and health-related quality of life among patients with the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome hypermobility type.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the musculoskeletal complaints, physical activity (PA) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome hypermobility type (EDS-HT).


METHODS
Thirty-two female EDS-HT patients as defined by the Villefranche criteria and 32 gender- and age-matched healthy control subjects participated in the study. Data about musculoskeletal complaints were collected from a specific form developed for the study. Daily PA and HRQoL were evaluated by the Baecke questionnaire and the RAND 36-Item Health Survey (distributed by RAND), respectively.


RESULTS
A significant presence of joint pain, joint dislocations, muscle cramps, tendinitis, fatigue and headache were revealed in the EDS-HT patient group. Joint pain was reported as the most frequent and most severe symptom. The habitual PA level was diminished in the patient group. Specifically, EDS-HT subjects had significantly lower sport participation, but a comparable leisure time excluding sports compared to the healthy control subjects. All eight HRQoL dimensions of the RAND-36 and both physical and emotional summary scores were significantly impaired in EDS-HT.


CONCLUSIONS
EDS-HT is characterised by various severe musculoskeletal complaints and has a detrimental effect on the habitual level of PA and HRQoL, in both physical and psychosocial dimension. An appropriate treatment and management in healthcare is needed.
Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy, Artevelde University College, Ghent University, and Centre of Medical Genetics, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium. lies.rombaut@ugent.be
Lies
L
Rombaut
Fransiska
F
Malfait
Ann
A
Cools
Anne
A
De Paepe
Patrick
P
Calders
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018771:Arthralgia / Q000503:physiopathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004535:Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005221:Fatigue / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D004204:Joint Dislocations / Q000503:physiopathology; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009120:Muscle Cramp / Q000503:physiopathology; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013177:Sports; D013180:Sprains and Strains / Q000503:physiopathology; D052256:Tendinopathy / Q000503:physiopathology