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PREVALENCE OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND SITTING IN PEOPLE WITH INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE AND HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS

Abstract

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an autoimmune disease characterized by the cyclical nature of flare and remission periods, with little known about the prevalence of physical activity and sedentary behaviors, such as sitting, in this population. PURPOSE: To determine the prevalence of physical activity and sitting in people with IBD (in remission and disease flare) compared to healthy individuals. METHODS: Participants with IBD (n = 242; 96 in disease flare [IBD-flare] and 146 in disease remission [IBD-remission]), and healthy controls (n = 265) participated in an online survey. Self-reported walking, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sitting were collected using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance with age, sex, education status, disease history, and smoking habits as covariates. RESULTS: People with IBD reported lower levels of walking (329 ± 422 minutes/week, p = 0.03) and MVPA (279 ± 412 minutes/week, p < 0.01) than healthy individuals (477 ± 536 minutes/week and 481 ± 529 minutes/week, respectively). There were no differences between IBD-flare and IBD-remission participants for levels of walking (301 ± 466 vs. 335 ± 368 minutes/week, respectively) or MVPA (227 ± 315 vs. 330 ± 481 minutes/week, respectively, p > 0.05 for both). Physical activity guidelines were met in 45% of people with IBD and 73% of healthy individuals (p < 0.05). Although sitting was not different between groups, there was a trend for higher sitting in those with IBD (424 ± 196 minutes/day) compared to healthy individuals (395 ± 182 minutes/day, p = 0.07). CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that people with IBD report lower levels of physical activity than healthy individuals but report no differences in weekday sitting. Furthermore, there were no negative consequences of a disease flare on physical activity. Our findings suggest that people with IBD are able to participate in varying levels physical activity despite there being no guidelines for this population. Future research should aim to develop physical activity recommendations to benefit people with IBD and reduce the amount of time spent sitting.

Funded by the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI) Student Research Grant.

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