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Table 1 Characteristics and levels of activity of patients with axial spondyloarthritis versus controls

From: Physical activity in patients with axial spondyloarthritis in a multi-ethnic south-east Asian country

Characteristic

AxSpA

N = 74

Controls

N = 2679

P value

Current age, median (IQR), years

37.0 (26.3)

51.0 (23.0)

< 0.01

Sex, male, n (%)

56 (75.7)

1201 (44.8)

< 0.01

Race, Chinese, n (%)

65 (87.8)

1783 (66.6)

< 0.01

Body mass index, median (IQR), kg m−2

24.1 (5.1)

23.6 (5.5)

0.29

Smoking status

 Currently smoking, n (%)

26 (35.1)

335 (12.5)

< 0.01

 Ex-smoker, n (%)

48 (64.9)

450 (16.8)

 

 Never smoked, n (%)

0 (0)

1894 (70.7)

 

Alcohol drinkers, n (%)

48 (65.8)

1660 (62.0)

0.35

Education level

 Secondary and below, n (%)

74 (100)

1352 (50.5)

< 0.01

 Diploma or equivalent, n (%)

0 (0)

674 (25.2)

 

 Degree, n (%)

0 (0)

653 (24.4)

 

Employed, n (%)

57 (77.0)

1798 (67.1)

0.07

Total monthly household income*

  < SGD $2000, n (%)

12 (16.2)

633 (23.6)

0.23

 SGD $2000–3999, n (%)

21 (28.4)

686 (25.6)

 

 SGD$4000–5999, n (%)

17 (23.0)

481 (18.0)

 

  ≥ SGD$6000, n (%)

24 (32.4)

629 (23.5)

 

Co-morbidities

 Hypertension, n (%)

11 (14.9)

499 (18.6)

0.41

 Diabetes mellitus, n (%)

3 (4.1)

246 (9.2)

0.09

 Hyperlipidemia, n (%)

6 (8.1)

681 (25.4)

< 0.01

 Coronary artery disease, n (%)

4 (5.4)

105 (3.9)

0.33

 Chronic kidney disease, n (%)

2 (2.7)

18 (0.67)

0.10

WHO recommendations on physical activity for health

 Meets WHO recommendations, n (%)

57 (77.0)

2403 (89.7)

< 0.01

Median time of total physical activity on average per day (IQR), minutes

60 (107.1)

44.3 (82.1)

0.07

Median time spent on work-related physical activity on average per day (IQR), minutes

0 (31.0)

0 (34.3)

0.38

Median time spent on travel-related physical activity on average per day (IQR), minutes

13.6 (36.4)

20 (34.3)

0.07

Median time spent on recreational-related physical activity on average per day (IQR), minutes

13.9 (51.4)

0 (17.1)

0.01

Doing no work-, transport-, or recreation-related physical activity, n (%)

9 (12.2)

240 (9.0)

0.34

WHO classification of physical activity level

 Low level of physical activity, n (%)

17 (23.0)

1551 (57.9)

< 0.01

 Moderate level of physical activity, n (%)

25 (33.8)

303 (11.3)

 

 High level of physical activity, n (%)

32 (43.2)

825 (30.8)

 

 High level of sedentary activity§, n (%)

42 (56.8)

966 (36.1)

< 0.01

  1. Abbreviation
  2. AxSpA Axial spondyloarthritis, IQR interquartile range, SGD Singapore dollar, WHO World Health Organization
  3. *Some participants in the control group did not provide information on the household income.
  4. †Meeting WHO recommendations on physical activity for health includes: (i) 150 min of moderate-intensity physical activity or (ii) 75 min of vigorous-intensity physical activity or (iii) An equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity achieving at least 600 MET-minutes
  5. §Defined as more than 8 h of sedentary activity