LAUSR

Background Physical activity interventions have yielded reductions in fatigue and depressive symptoms among persons with multiple sclerosis(MS) who have not been screened for elevated baseline symptoms scores. Purpose This short communication describes a secondary analysis of data from a previous randomized controlled trial (RCT) and focused on physical activity intervention effects on fatigue and depression among persons with MS who had elevated baseline symptom scores. Method Of the 76 persons who completed the RCT, 64(84%) had baseline fatigue severity scale(FSS) scores indicating elevated levels of fatigue(n = 30,intervention; n = 34,control), and 26(34%) had baseline hospital anxiety and depression scale, depression(HADS-D) scores indicating elevated depressive symptoms (n = 13,intervention; n = 13,control). The physical activity intervention was delivered over a 6-month period, and the control condition was a 6-month waitlist. The participants completed the FSS and HADS-D as part of baseline and follow-up battery of assessments. Results There was a statistically significant change in FSS scores favoring the physical activity intervention, and the effect size of 0.73 was larger than reported in a previous meta-analysis of RCTs of physical activity and fatigue in MS of 0.45(95%CI=.22,.68). We observed a statistically significant change in HADS-D scores favoring the physical activity intervention, and the effect size of 1.21 was larger than reported in a previous meta-analysis of RCTs of physical activity and depression in MS of 0.36(95%CI=.18,.54). Conclusion Such results provide preliminarily support for the application of physical activity interventions for the “treatment” of fatigue and/or depression in MS, pending subsequent confirmatory efficacy or effectiveness trials.