BACKGROUND: Physical inactivity is common during hospitalisation and poses a threat to functional capacity and independency in the elderly.

AIM: We aimed to assess the effect of physical activity measurements with visual feedback about time spent in various activities on the average daily time spent out of bed during hospitalisation.

METHODS: We recorded physical activity during hospitalisation by accelerometers and compared the effect of the visual feedback (intervention) with no feedback (control) on time spent out of bed. Patients admitted to the pulmonary ward were invited and assigned to intervention with feedback or control with no feedback in 6 alternating waves of approximately 18 patients each. The order of feedback/no feedback was randomised at the outset of the study. The visual feedback intervention group was provided with visual feedback of the daily time spent in bed, sitting, standing, and walking. The control group did not receive feedback.

RESULTS: 93 patients completed the study with a median length of stay of 5 days. Across all patients there were no statistically significant group differences in daily time out of bed; however, patients with independent mobility spent 51 minutes (95% CI 0 to 102; P = .049) more out of bed when provided with visual feedback compared to no feedback.

CONCLUSIONS: A simple technology assisted physical activity intervention with visual feedback to encourage mobility was not effective at increasing time spent out of bed among hospitalised patients. With feedback, a subgroup of patients with independent walking abilities increased time out of bed and may benefit from this type of intervention.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01945749.

Visceral adipose tissue is harmful to metabolic health. Exercise training reduces visceral adipose tissue mass, but the underlying mechanisms are not known. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) stimulates lipolysis and is released from skeletal muscle during exercise. We hypothesized that exercise-induced reductions in visceral adipose tissue mass are mediated by IL-6. In this randomized placebo-controlled trial, we assigned abdominally obese adults to tocilizumab (IL-6 receptor antibody) or placebo during a 12-week intervention with either bicycle exercise or no exercise. While exercise reduced visceral adipose tissue mass, this effect of exercise was abolished in the presence of IL-6 blockade. Changes in body weight and total adipose tissue mass showed similar tendencies, whereas lean body mass did not differ between groups. Also, IL-6 blockade increased cholesterol levels, an effect not reversed by exercise. Thus, IL-6 is required for exercise to reduce visceral adipose tissue mass and emphasizes a potentially important metabolic consequence of IL-6 blockade.

Prenatal vitamin D insufficiency may be associated with an increased risk of developing childhood asthma. Results from epidemiological studies are conflicting and limited by short follow-up and small sample sizes. The objective of this study was to examine if children born to women exposed to the margarine fortification policy with a small dose of extra vitamin D during pregnancy had a reduced risk of developing asthma until age 9 years, compared to children born to unexposed women. The termination of a Danish mandatory vitamin D fortification policy constituted the basis for the study design. We compared the risk of inpatient asthma diagnoses in all Danish children born two years before (n = 106,347, exposed) and two years after (n = 115,900, unexposed) the termination of the policy. The children were followed in the register from 0-9 years of age. Data were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards regression. The Hazard Ratio for the first inpatient asthma admission among exposed versus unexposed children was 0.96 (95%CI: 0.90-1.04). When stratifying by sex and age, 0-3 years old boys exposed to vitamin D fortification showed a lower asthma risk compared to unexposed boys (HR 0.78, 95%CI: 0.67-0.92). Prenatal exposure to margarine fortification policy with extra vitamin D did not affect the overall risk of developing asthma among children aged 0-9 years but seemed to reduce the risk among 0-3 years old boys. Taking aside study design limitations, this could be explained by different sensitivity to vitamin D from different sex-related asthma phenotypes in children with early onset, and sex differences in lung development or immune responses.

BACKGROUND: More advanced disc degeneration on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is found in individuals with low back pain. However, it is unclear whether this grading is independent of the scanner's field strength.

PURPOSE: To compare disc degeneration on high- versus low-field MRI.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Low back pain patients were enrolled to undergo high-field (3 T) MRI, followed by low-field (0.25 T) MRI of the lumbar spine within 3 h. Three radiologists graded the disc degeneration on Pfirrmann's grading scale with a hiatus of 3 months. A subsample was regraded 6 months later. Reproducibility was measured by weighted kappa statistics (using PROC FREQ statement with AGREE in the TABLES statement for SAS), absolute agreement (i.e. 1:1 agreement/the total number) and the difference in the prevalence (McNemar test).

RESULTS: Moderate to substantial agreement (κ = 0.52-0.62) and absolute agreement of 43.8-66.1% were found between field strengths. Low-field MRI tended to have numerically higher and lower grades than high-field MRI resulting in a significant difference in the prevalence of grades ( p < 0.001). Both field strengths resulted in a moderate to substantial inter-reader agreement (low-field: κ = 0.63, 0.63, 0.54 and high-field: κ = 0.55, 0.43, 0.53) and intra-reader agreement (high-field: κ = 0.57, 0.77, 0.67 and low-field: κ = 0.51, 0.50, 0.70). Only, the reader with the shortest experience had better agreement with high-field compared to low-field.

CONCLUSIONS: There were a significant difference in the prevalence of disc degeneration grading between 0.25 T and 3 T MRI. Therefore, field strength should be taken into consideration when comparing studies using disc degeneration grading as an outcome.

OBJECTIVE: The Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) Safety Working Group objective was to identify harm domains from existing outcome measurements in rheumatology.

METHODS: Systematically searching the MEDLINE database on January 24, 2017, we identified full-text articles that could be used for harm outcomes in rheumatology. Domains/items from the identified instruments were described and the content synthesized to provide a preliminary framework for harm outcomes.

RESULTS: From 435 possible references, 24 were read in full text and 9 were included: 7 measurement instruments were identified. Investigation of domains/items revealed considerable heterogeneity in the grouping and approach.

CONCLUSION: The ideal way to assess harm aspects from the patients' perspective has not yet been ascertained.