Self-reported barriers to exercise from a national United Kingdom systemic lupus erythematosus cohort

Background/Aims Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are more inactive than the general population. Regular physical activity (PA) positively impacts many health parameters, including cardiovascular health. To better understand patient barriers to leisure time PA we conducted a national survey of patients with SLE in the UK. Methods An online survey was disseminated via LUPUS UK social media platforms between 5/05/2023 and 28/10/2023. Participants self-reported demographic data including postcodes. Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) were used to define socioeconomic deprivation and were split into quantiles, where quartile 5 represents participants living in 20% least deprived areas in England. Categorical and continuous data were analysed using Fisher's exact test and Mann-Whitney U test respectively. Results There were 249 individual responses. Table 1 describes the cohort demographics alongside response data. On a 0-10 scale (very unsatisfied to very satisfied), 171/244 (70%) of participants rated their satisfaction with their amounts of leisure time PA as <= 4. The most commonly reported barriers to PA were fatigue (221/249, 88.8%), pain (155/249, 62.2%) and lupus-related symptoms/flares (145/249, 58.2%). Dislike of exercise was reported by<10% of cohort (22/249, 8.8%). When asked to identify the primary barrier to PA, 119/244 (48.8%) reported fatigue. Lack of motivation (40/244, 16.4%) and knowledge about exercise (18/244, 7.4%) were other predominant barriers. Concern around injury differed between ethnic groups (p=0.016). Other barriers did not differ by sex, ethnic group or socioeconomic deprivation. Participants reporting lack of time were younger with a median age of 45 (35-53) versus 54 (43-63) years, p=<0.001. Patients reporting fatigue, pain and self-consciousness had higher BMI in kg/m(2) (27.7 [23.6-32.3] vs 23.4 [20.8-28.2]; 28.7 [23.8-33.1] vs 25.4 [22.6-28.8]; 31.4 [27.9-38.4] vs 25.8 [23.1-30.2]), p=<0.001. Lupus-related symptoms/flares and concern that PA may worsen lupus were reported by participants with a shorter disease duration in years (8 [3-17] vs 12 [4.5-24] p=0.002, and 7 [2-15] vs 10 [4.5-23] p=<0.001 respectively). Conclusion 70% of patients were dissatisfied with their level of leisure time PA. Fatigue and pain were the most commonly reported barriers to PA. Reported barriers differ between patients highlighting the need for personalised exercise programmes for patients with SLE. Disclosure A. Baranskaya: None. A.J. Wadley: None. J. Reynolds: None.