P285 Using FITBITR for fitness monitoring in patients attending the AS residential course at RNHRD: it does make a difference!
Abstract Background Wearable technology has become a very popular tool in fitness training. It empowers people to be in charge of their own health and encourages them to exercise more. At the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases we have been offering dedicated inpatient courses for management of spondyloarthropathy patients. Historically this course has helped patients with chronic arthritis to improve their physical well being while also focusing on different extra articular aspects of their condition like fatigue, sleep and pain issues. As part of this programme, we provided patients with Fitbit devices to evaluate whether regular recording of their activity and sleep tracking had an impact on their overall physical activity. Methods Patients attending the 2 weeks’ residential course from July 2018 to June 2019 were provided with Fitbit devices and were given a paper chart to log their data in. The patients gave verbal permission for their data to be included for audit purposes. The demographic data regarding the patients was collected through electronic patient record system. Bath indices were collected from electronic patient record system and results were compiled through Microsoft Excel. Results Data from 42 patients was collected. Data from 38 patients was analysed. Data for sleep indices was incomplete in 16 patients. 67% participants on the course were male and 33% were female. 90% patients had a diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis, 5% had nonradiographic SpA and the rest had PsA or undifferentiated SpA. Majority of patients (97%) had improvement in their BASMI scores with a mean improvement of 37%. 51% patients improved their physical activity with an average increase in their step count by 13.3% compared to baseline. The participants on average spent 55.67 minutes being active on the course. While resting, majority of patients spent more time being awake or in light sleep (mean 14.3% and 54% respectively) although it might have been confounded by their stay in hospital. The verbal feedback from patients regarding the use of these devices has been mostly positive and it encouraged them to be more active. Conclusion Majority of patients attending the residential course noticed an improvement in their arthritis. The verbal feedback on using Fitbit devices to track daily activity and sleep was positive as it encouraged patients to increase their activity and improve sleep hygiene in future. Further refinement in data collection process and including other variables like pain, stiffness and fatigue scores can be valuable in a more focused discussion regarding management strategies of spondyloarthritis. Disclosures M. Jamal None. S. Saeed None. E. Clarke None. R. Sengupta None.
