INTRODUCTION: Physical activity (PA) has been receiving increasing interest in recent years as an adjuvant therapy for autoimmune rheumatic disease (ARDs), but there is scarce information about the efficacy of home-based PA for patients with ARDs. OBJECTIVE: To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis on the efficacy of home-based physical activity (PA) interventions in improving health-related quality of life, functional capacity, pain, and disease activity in patients with ARDs. METHODS: Searches were performed in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane, CINAHL database and SPORTDiscus. Trials were considered eligible if they included a home-based physical activity intervention. The population included adults with autoimmune rheumatic diseases (eg, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, systemic sclerosis and ankylosing spondylitis), comparisons included non-physical activity control or centre-based interventions (ie, interventions performed on a specialized exercise centre) and the outcomes were quality of life, pain, functional capacity, disease activity and inflammation. RESULTS: Home-based physical activity improved quality of life (p < 0.01; g = 0.69; IC95% 0.61 to 1.07) and functional capacity (p = 0.04; g = -0.51; IC95% -0.86 to -0.16), and reduced disease activity (p = 0.03; g = -0.60; IC95% -1.16 to -0.04) and pain (p = 0.01; g = -1.62; IC95% -2.94 to -0.31) compared to the non-physical activity control condition. Additionally, home-based physical activity interventions were as effective as centre-based interventions for all investigated outcomes. CONCLUSION: Home-based PA is an efficacious strategy to improve disease control and aleviate symptoms in ARD.
Copyright by WB Saunders Company.

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