Exploring the Major Barriers to Physical Activity in Persons With Multiple Sclerosis: Observational Longitudinal Study.
Chloé Sieber, Christina Haag, Ashley Polhemus and 5 others
PMID 38498024WHAT IT FOUND
Less active people with MS reported needing more family and friend support than active peers.
Higher depression and fatigue scores linked to more perceived barriers. However, barrier scores did not predict whether someone hit standard step or activity thresholds.
Key findings
01Less active participants rated lack of support from family and friends significantly higher than active participants.
02Higher depression and fatigue scores were independently associated with higher reported barriers to physical activity.
03Barrier scores did not significantly predict whether participants met the threshold of 10,000 steps per day or 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity per week.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study was exploratory and not corrected for multiple testing, increasing the chance of false-positive findings. Participants were recruited from an inpatient rehabilitation setting, so results may not apply to people with MS who do not attend rehab or who have different disease profiles. The sample size was small (45 participants), which may have reduced the power to detect true associations between barrier scores and activity thresholds. The study only followed participants for four weeks after discharge, so it cannot say whether these barriers affect long-term activity maintenance.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was approved by the ethics committee of the canton of Zurich. No specific funding source was detailed in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that a high BHADP barrier score means a patient will fail to meet standard activity goals like 10,000 steps. The study found that barrier scores did not significantly predict whether patients hit these specific thresholds, even though they were associated with lower overall activity levels when adjusted for baseline.