Abstract Body: Background: Joint pain and intermittent claudication, two common forms of chronic leg pain syndromes, are associated with reduced physical activity. However, previous studies analyzed these conditions separately, and therefore, their combined association with objectively measured physical activity in a large representative population is unknown.
Methods: Using data from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL), we studied 7,418 adults aged 45-74 years at baseline (2008-2011). Joint pain and intermittent claudication were identified with a questionnaire, and free-living physical activity was objectively assessed over one week, during waking hours, with a hip-worn accelerometer. Daily physical activity measures included: sedentary, light, and moderate-vigorous intensity time, and total activity counts. We used multivariable linear regression models accounting for sampling weights and design factors to estimate differences in activity metrics across joint pain and intermittent claudication groups.
Results: In Hispanic/Latino adults, 23% and 26% had joint pain and intermittent claudication, respectively, and 9% had both conditions. Mean of sedentary, light, and moderate/vigorous activity, and total physical count were 493 min/day, 437 min/day, 19 min/day, and 2139 count/day, respectively. After adjusting for potential confounders and each of the leg pain measures, joint pain compared to no joint pain was associated with higher sedentary time and lower total activity counts and showed borderline significance in light and moderate/vigorous activity. In contrast, intermittent claudication was significantly associated with only lower moderate/vigorous activity. Across categories, joint pain without claudication showed the least active profiles (e.g., more sedentary time [+15.1 min/day vs. no joint pain/no claudication], and fewer light active minutes [-12.9 min/day] and activity counts [-86.9 count/day]), except moderate/vigorous activity for claudication without joint pain had the shortest time (-2.9 min/day).
Conclusion: Joint pain and intermittent claudication were independently associated with physical activity, with the former associated with a broader range of activity parameters and the latter particularly linked with moderate/vigorous activity. Our findings highlight the importance of evaluating both symptoms in physical activity research and suggest their unique contributions to activity impairment.