Barriers to Physical Activity in People With MS (BarKA-MS)

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease leading to the demyelination of the central nervous system. Promoting physical activity has gathered attention as an effective means to improve health-related quality of life and to mitigate symptoms such as fatigue and depressive symptoms in individuals suffering from MS. However, persons suffering from MS often experience difficulties in staying active. A comprehensive understanding of barriers to staying physical active for persons with MS in Switzerland is currently lacking. Given the importance of physical activity in the context of MS a detailed understanding of this matter would be key for future research and treatment.

A key challenge when studying physical activity in the context of MS is to obtain objective and accurate measurements that are not prone to reporting bias. While accelerometer-based measurements hold promise in this regard they are not convenient for routine implementation in real-world environments. Initial research has identified consumer-grade wearables such as Fitbits as a promising alternative whereby focusing on the main outcome average step count. Given the rich detail of activity patterns that can be derived from such devices, research has so far underutilized the available information that has the potential to provide more comprehensive insight into this matter.

Objectives: The present project aims to determine the common factors in real-life settings limiting physical activity in persons with MS and the impact of these barriers on physical activity. Further, the present study aims to provide precedence for future research investigating physical activity in MS by examining the quality, reliability, internal consistency, and validity of PA metrics derived from the wide-spread consumer-grade activity tracker Fitbit in comparison to an accelerometer.