Examining the feasibility of exercise to manage symptoms of Lupus
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Examining the feasibility and acceptability of a remotely monitored exercise intervention on clinical, immunological and psychological aspects of health in patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
IRAS ID
311784
Contact name
Alex Wadley
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN72757645
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 28 days
Research summary
Lupus is a disease in which the immune system is over-active resulting in inflammation and damage in different organs. Although regular participation in exercise can support health and wellbeing in people with Lupus we do not know whether exercise can reduce this immune system over-activity. We want to measure how immune cells change after a home-based exercise programme and determine whether it can reduce the activity of Lupus.
We will invite people with Lupus who currently don’t exercise regularly to join our 18-week study that requires 3 visits to Sandwell General Birmingham. Each participant will be randomly allocated to one of 2 groups: control (standard NHS care) or home-based exercise (plus standard NHS care). We will recruit a group of healthy age and activity matched female participants, for baseline comparisons only. Blood samples will be taken from all groups at the start of the study and then 12 and 18 weeks later for patient groups only.
Participants will co-design an exercise programme with the aim of exercising for 150 minutes at moderate intensity or 90 minutes at a vigorous intensity by the end of the 12 weeks. This can be an exercise type of the participants choice (e.g. walking or cycling), which will be discussed with an exercise specialist. We are fully aware that there are days where fatigue, joint pain or other symptoms might make this exercise programme unmanageable. As part of the intervention, we will give advice on how to exercise on these challenging days.A secondary aim of this project is to recruit patients with SLE nationally to complete a brief online survey about lifestyle habits to help us with the design of a larger national trial.
REC name
South East Scotland REC 02
REC reference
22/SS/0082
Date of REC Opinion
2 Nov 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion