title: Effects of a one-year physical activity programme for women with systemic lupus erythematosus - a randomized controlled study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the effects of a one-year physical activity programme on aerobic capacity, physical activity and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) by a randomized control design.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-five women with low or moderate disease activity and organ damage were randomized to intervention (I) or control (C) group. The intervention during months 0-3 consisted of education, supervised aerobic exercise at high intensity and individual coaching, as well as self-managed physical activity at low-to-moderate intensity. During months 4-12, the physical activity was self-managed and the coaching was successively reduced over time. Outcome measures included: maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max) from a bicycle ergometer test, self-reported physical activity and HRQL (SF-36).
  
  
  RESULTS
  VO2 at sub-max. and max. increased, independent of group, during the one-year study period (main effect of time p < 0.0001). VO2 max. increased between baseline and month 3 (p < 0.0001), between months 3 and 6 (p = 0.01) and the increase was sustained at month 12 (ns). Frequency of physical activity at high intensity also increased, independent of group, during the study period. It was increased at months 3, 6 and 12 compared to baseline (p = 0.02, p < 0.001, p = 0.03). Improvement in mental health between baseline and month 6 (p = 0.002) was seen for the I-group, not the C-group (p = 0.03). Disease activity and organ damage did not change.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Physical activity and aerobic capacity increased after supervised exercise and coaching, and the improvement was sustained during the one-year programme. However, no interactions between the group differences were seen, which suggests that repeated measurements could motivate to increased physical activity and thereby to increased aerobic capacity. As sub-max. VO2 increased over time, training-induced changes in VO2 on-kinetics could be another explanation. Little influence on HRQL was seen after the programme. The study indicates that physical activity at high intensity over one year is tolerated by patients with mild to moderate SLE.
authors.affiliation: Division of Physiotherapy, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden carina.bostrom@ki.se.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Boström
authors.affiliation: Division of Physiotherapy, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Elfving
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology unit, Department of Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dupré
authors.affiliation: Division of Physiotherapy, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden Rheumatology unit, Department of Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Opava
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology unit, Department of Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: I E
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: Lundberg
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Physiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm Sweden.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jansson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology; D005080:Exercise Test; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D017079:Exercise Tolerance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Exercise; maximal oxygen consumption; quality of life; randomized controlled trials; systemic lupus erythematosus