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CompletedNCT01874977Updated May 12, 2016

Trial of a Physical Activity Intervention for RA Fatigue

An interventional study of Pedometer and Educational materials in Rheumatoid Arthritis, sponsored by University of California, San Francisco. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2016-05-12.

Sponsored by University of California, San Francisco · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
96
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The major goal of this project is to conduct a randomized, controlled trial of the impact of a practical, low cost physical activity intervention on fatigue among persons with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Fatigue has been identified as a major concern for individuals with RA, and is considered a core outcome measure for RA. Our recent study of the sources of fatigue identified physical inactivity as a primary predictor of fatigue. Studies have examined the impact of exercise interventions on RA outcomes, but most of these interventions have focused on pain or function as outcomes. The few exercise studies examining fatigue suggest that increasing physical activity reduces fatigue, but the interventions have been resource-intensive, requiring specially trained personnel to administer them, highly structured activities, and/or attendance at classes or a specified facility. Each of these components increases the cost and barriers to implementation of an intervention. Pedometers have been shown to be an effective means of increasing physical activity, and could form the basis of a simple means to increase physical activity.

This project will test the effect of a simple pedometer-based intervention, with two incremental degrees of guidance, on increasing physical activity and decreasing fatigue. Three groups (n=40 in each) will be studied: a control group with an educational pamphlet only, a pedometer-only intervention group, and a pedometer group with step targets. Both intervention groups will keep step-count diaries. Groups will be followed over 20 weeks. We expect that (1) the pedometer-only intervention group will increase activity more than the education group, and the group with step-count targets will demonstrate even greater increases in activity; and (2) greater increases in activity will be associated with greater decreases in fatigue. Secondary outcome measures will include depressive symptoms, self-reported sleep quality, and body composition. Our overall goal is to demonstrate an effective, yet simple and low cost, physical activity intervention to decrease fatigue that could be broadly accessible and have the potential for wide implementation.

02

Conditions studied

  • Rheumatoid Arthritis

Keywords

  • rheumatoid arthritis
  • fatigue
  • physical activity
03

In context

Arthritis

3,554 studies on the registry are indexed under Arthritis; 318 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 96 is close to the median of 90 across 2,377 interventional studies indexed under Arthritis.

Browse Arthritis studies →

Lead sponsor

University of California, San Francisco is the lead sponsor of 2,132 studies on the registry; 375 are open to participants now.

Of its 262 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 196 (75%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • Physicians' diagnosis of RA
  • English verbal fluency
  • Residence in the greater San Francisco Bay Area
  • Score ≥20 on 10-item PROMIS fatigue scale, or at least one item rated "often"
  • BMI ≥ 20 kg/m2

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Currently engaging in regular exercise
  • Non-ambulatory or presence of a condition or comorbid disease that would limit the ability to engage in walking (e.g., foot deformities, lower extremity joint surgery upcoming or in past 6 months, myocardial infarction in past 6 months, stroke, congestive heart failure, severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).
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Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Participant)
Enrollment
96 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Pedometer only

    This group will receive the educational booklet and discussion, plus a pedometer and a diary to record their daily step counts from the pedometer. Participants will be shown how to wear the pedometer, and instructed to wear it from the time they get out of bed in the morning until they go to bed at night, except while showering or bathing. (If any subjects begin a swimming- or cycling-based activity program, we will ask them to remove the pedometer at that time but track the time they are in the water. Step counts will be adjusted to account for this time by adding 150 steps for every minute engaged in swimming and/or cycling.)

    Behavioral: Pedometer · Behavioral: Educational materials

  • Experimental
    Pedometer + step count goals

    Pedometer + step goals. This group will receive the educational booklet and discussion, and the pedometer and step diary, plus will be given individualized daily step targets.

    Behavioral: Pedometer · Behavioral: Educational materials · Behavioral: Step count goals

  • Other
    Education materials

    Educational materials. This group will receive the educational booklet ("Be Active Your Way: A guide for Adults"; http://www.health.gov/paguidelines/adultguide/default.aspx).and a discussion of simple ways to increase physical activity in daily life based on the booklet, following the baseline assessment. They will receive follow-up contact at the same time points as the intervention groups, although the Week 0 and Week 1 contacts will be by phone instead of in-person and the content of contacts will be different.

    Behavioral: Educational materials

Interventions

  • BehavioralPedometer

    Will receive the educational booklet and discussion, plus a pedometer and a diary to record their daily step counts from the pedometer.

  • BehavioralEducational materials

    Will receive the educational booklet ("Be Active Your Way: A guide for Adults"; http://www.health.gov/paguidelines/adultguide/default.aspx).and a discussion of simple ways to increase physical activity in daily life based on the booklet, following the baseline assessment.

  • BehavioralStep count goals

    Will receive the educational booklet and discussion, and the pedometer and step diary, plus will be given individualized daily step targets.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. PROMIS Fatigue scale

    Time frame: change from baseline fatigue score at 20 weeks

Secondary outcomes

  1. Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)

    depressive symptoms

    Time frame: change from baseline PHQ-9 score at 20 weeks

  2. Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)

    self-reported sleep quality

    Time frame: Change from baseline PSQI score at 20 weeks

  3. Change in weight

    Time frame: Change from baseline weight at 20 weeks

07

Study locations

1 site
  • University of California, San Francisco
    San Francisco, California 94118, United States
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Katz P, Margaretten M, Gregorich S, Trupin L. Physical Activity to Reduce Fatigue in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2018 Jan;70(1):1-10. doi: 10.1002/acr.23230. Epub 2017 Dec 6. PubMed 28378441 ↗
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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on May 12, 2016, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT01874977
Lead sponsor
University of California, San Francisco
Responsible party
Patti Katz (Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco) — Principal investigator
First posted
Jun 11, 2013
Start date
Nov 2013
Primary completion
Mar 2016
Completion
Mar 2016
Last update
May 12, 2016

Study contacts

Patricia Katz, PhD
principal investigator · University of California, San Francisco

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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