%0 Journal Article
%T An impaired health related muscular fitness contributes to a reduced walking capacity in patients with schizophrenia: a cross-sectional study
%A Davy Vancampfort
%A Michel Probst
%A Amber De Herdt
%A Rui Manuel Nunes Corredeira
%A Attilio Carraro
%A Dirk De Wachter
%A Marc De Hert
%J BMC Psychiatry
%D 2013
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-244x-13-5
%X A total of 100 patients with schizophrenia and 40 healthy volunteers were initially screened. Eighty patients with schizophrenia (36.8¡À10.0 years) and the 40 age-, gender- and body mass index (BMI)-matched healthy volunteers (37.1¡À10.3 years) were finally included. All participants performed a standing broad jump test (SBJ) and a six-minute walk test (6MWT) and filled out the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Patients additionally had a fasting metabolic laboratory screening and were assessed for psychiatric symptoms.Patients with schizophrenia did have lower 6MWT (17.9%, p<0.001) [effect size (ES)=£¿1.01] and SBJ (14.1%, p<0.001) (ES=£¿0.57) scores. Patients were also less physically active (1291.0¡À1201.8 metabolic equivalent-minutes/week versus 2463.1¡À1365.3, p<0.001) (ES=£¿0.91) than controls. Schizophrenia patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS) (35%) had a 23.9% lower (p<0.001) SBJ-score and 22.4% (p<0.001) lower 6MWT-score than those without MetS. In multiple regression analysis, 71.8% of the variance in 6MWT was explained by muscular fitness, BMI, presence of MetS and physical activity participation, while 53.9% of the variance in SBJ-score was explained by age, illness duration, BMI and physical activity participation.The walking capacity and health-related muscular fitness are impaired in patients with schizophrenia and both should be a major focus in daily clinical practice and future research.Patients with schizophrenia have a reduced aerobic capacity [1,2] and report subjective muscle weakness [3]. It is likely that both play an important role in the physical adaptation to daily life activities such as walking. Previous research already demonstrated that an impaired performance on daily life activities in patients with schizophrenia is associated with overweight, metabolic complications, smoking behaviour, negative symptoms and a lower physical self-perception [4-6]. An impaired functional walking capacity has been related as well to a reduced
%K Muscle weakness
%K Fitness
%K Physical activity
%K Metabolic syndrome
%K Walking
%K Schizophrenia
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-244X/13/5