Article

There is currently no published evidence from longitudinal or
intervention studies of an association between lifestyle physical activity and
walking impairment in persons with multiple sclerosis.
This panel study tested
the hypothesis that a change in lifestyle physical activity would be inversely
associated with change in walking impairment over a 6-mo period in persons with
relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. DESIGN: Participants with a confirmed
diagnosis of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis completed a battery of
measures at baseline (n = 269) and at 6-mo follow-up (n = 263) in the absence of
an intervention. The data were analyzed using linear panel analysis and
covariance modeling in Mplus 3.0. RESULTS: The panel model fit the data (chi(2) =
25.23; df = 12; P = 0.01; standardized root-mean-squared residual, 0.04;
comparative fit index, 0.98) and, as expected, identified the direct effects
between baseline physical activity and walking impairment (path coefficient,
-0.31) and follow-up physical activity and walking impairment (path coefficient,
-0.16). The second path coefficient indicated that a standard deviation unit
change of 1 in physical activity was associated with a standard deviation unit
residual change of 0.16 in walking impairment. CONCLUSIONS:
The finding supports
the possible importance of targeting free-living physical activity as a
behavioral approach for forestalling walking impairments in adults with
relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

Langue : ANGLAIS