Sedentary behavior, physical activity, and health-related quality of life in adults with multiple sclerosis.

Abstract

We examined sedentary behavior as a correlate of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in multiple sclerosis (MS), while accounting for levels of physical activity in this cross-sectional study. Participants with MS (<i>N</i> = 233) wore an accelerometer, which measured time spent per day of sedentary behavior, light physical activity (LPA), and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and completed the 29-item Multiple Sclerosis Impact Scale (MSIS-29) for physical and psychological HRQOL. There was no main effect of sedentary behavior on physical or psychological HRQOL, and no further effect of sedentary behavior by LPA or MVPA. However, there were main effects of LPA (<i>p</i> < 0.01) and MVPA (<i>p</i> < 0.01) on physical HRQOL and a main effect of MVPA (<i>p</i> = 0.02), but not LPA, on psychological HRQOL. Sedentary behavior was not associated with HRQOL, but those who engaged in higher levels of physical activity, particularly MVPA, reported better HRQOL in MS. This pattern may suggest that increasing physical activity rather than reducing sedentary behavior might yield better MS-specific quality of life.