PHYSICAL ACTIVITY LEVELS IN PERSONS WITH POST - POLIO SYNDROME - A CROSS SECTIONAL SURVEY ACROSS GUJARAT, INDIA

Background:According to WHO,only 38% of those with disability meet recommendations for physical activity(PA) compared to 49% in healthy individuals.Post-polio syndrome (PPS) is a neuromuscular condition which may develop several years after initial polio infection.Several people with PPS may have difficulties in achieving desired levels of PA because of impairments and activity limitations.Purpose of the study was to determine the level of PA using physical activity and disability survey(PADS). Methods:In this cross sectional survey,80 PPS subjects between 18-65 years,having locomotor ability were included;those using psychotrophic drugs, having respiratory/cardiac insufficiency or cognitive impairment were excluded.Demographic details including age, gender, BMI, age at acute polio onset, duration of new symptoms, number of body sites affected and use of assistive devices were documented.Levels of physical activity were then correlated with risk factors such as age, BMI, number of body sites affected and duration of new symptoms. Results:Participants were active for 70 minutes/day,household-PA being higher with mean score of 24 minutes and 15 seconds/day,followed by leisure time-PA of 23 minutes 15 seconds/day.Employment related activity of 14 minutes 40 seconds/ day and exercise related activity of 10 minutes 30 seconds/day was observed.PA as a whole significantly and negatively correlated with age (r=-0.40, p=0.01). Interpretation:PA levels in PPS maybe high but this is mainly in the form of household and leisure activities contributing to reasonable PA across the day.However,PA correlates with age suggesting the need of structured exercises in form of low PA spread across the day.