Functional exercise capacity in rheumatoid arthritis unrelated to lung injury: A comparison of women with and without rheumatoid disease

BACKGROUND: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) mainly affects the joints of the upper and lower limbs, so evaluating functional exercise capacity in individuals with RA via dynamic tests of the locomotor system is essential. OBJECTIVES: To compare functional exercise capacity using the Glittre-activities of daily living (ADL) test (G-AT) in women with and without RA in the absence of RA pulmonary disease (RA-PD) and to correlate the findings with hand functioning, physical functioning, handgrip strength (HGS), and quadriceps strength (QS). METHODS: This cross-sectional pilot study evaluated 35 women with RA and 25 healthy controls by assessing hand functioning using the Cochin Hand Functional Scale (CHFS), physical functioning with the Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI), muscle functioning using HGS and QS, and G-AT results. RESULTS: Compared to the women in the control group, the women with RA presented higher scores for the CHFS ( p < 0.0001) and HAQ-DI ( p < 0.0001) and lower HGS ( p < 0.0001) and QS ( p = 0.013) values. The median G-AT time was higher in the RA patients than in the healthy controls [300 (295-420) vs. 180 (155-203) s], p < 0.0001), and the greatest difficulty reported by patients after the G-AT was squatting to perform the shelving tasks. G-AT time was positively correlated with the HAQ-DI (rs = 0.668, p < 0.0001) and CHFS (rs = 0.586, p = 0.0007) and negatively correlated with QS (rs = 0.429, p = 0.037). There was no significant correlation between the G-AT time and HGS. CONCLUSIONS: Women with RA take longer to perform G-AT tasks. Moreover, G-AT time was associated with hand functioning, physical functioning and QS, but not with HGS.