Relationship between persistent joint pain, physical activity and health-related quality of life
| Weekly METS¶ | PCS** | MCS** | ||||
| Unadjusted effect* (95% CI) | Adjusted† effect* (95% CI) | Unadjusted effect‡ (95% CI) | Adjusted† effect‡ (95% CI) | Unadjusted effect‡ (95% CI) | Adjusted† effect‡ (95% CI) | |
| Upper extremity persistent joint pain§ | 20.3 (−3.2 to 117), p=0.83 | 28.1 (−1.1 to 136), p=0.10 | −5.4 (−7.3 to 3.6), p<0.001 | −5.5 (−7.4 to 3.5), p<0.001 | −0.1 (−0.2 to 0.1), p=0.35 | −0.1 (−0.2 to 0.1), p=0.26 |
| Lower extremity persistent joint pain§ | 0.3 (−12.5 to 21.0), p=0.16 | 4.6 (−7.5 to 49.4), p=0.39 | −6.9 (−8.4 to 5.5), p<0.001 | −6.6 (−8.1 to 5.2), p<0.001 | 0.09 (−0.2 to 0.1), p=0.08 | −0.1 (−0.2 to 0.1), p=0.06 |
| No persistent joint pain | Reference group | Reference group | Reference group | |||
*Participants with memory impairments were excluded from the analyses.
†Estimates are adjusted for age, body mass index and comorbidities.
‡Comorbidities were defined as none present (0) and presence of at least one comorbidity (1). Comorbidities included were diabetes, stroke, skin cancer and other cancer.
§Upper extremity (shoulder, elbow, wrist or hand) and lower extremity (hip, knee or ankle) persistent joint pain were assessed by asking individuals if they had joint-specific pain on ‘most days of the last month’.
¶Short-form questionnaire (International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form). Physical activity was calculated as METS per week; METS were transformed prior to analysis by taking the square root and then retransformed by squaring after analysis.
**Short-Form 8 Health Survey. PCS and MCS were calculated using norm-based scoring (population norm 50, SD 10, high scorer=better health-related quality of life).
MCS, mental component score; METS, metabolic equivalents; PCS, physical component score.