Impaired quality of life (QoL) has been reported in different clinical populations such as patients suffering from cancer (CA), multiple sclerosis (MS) or cardiovascular diseases. A growing body of evidence indicates that physical activity (PA) affects subjective QoL while there is a dose-response relationship between the volume of exercise and its health benefits. PURPOSE: The present study assessed and compared PA levels and QoL of different clinical populations and age-matched healthy adults. METHODS: One hundred and thirteen volunteers, i.e., 29 with CA under chemotherapy (age: 56.0 ± 10.4 yrs, BMI: 27.2 ± 5.4 kg/m²), 20 with MS (age: 53.3 ± 14.4 yrs, BMI: 25.9 ± 3.5 kg/m²), 14 with hypertension (HYP) (age: 55.0 ± 11.0 yrs, BMI: 31.0 ± 6.0 kg/m²) and 50 healthy controls (CON) (age: 51.3 ± 6.5 yrs, BMI: 25.3 ± 3.1 kg/m²), participated in the study. Levels of PA and QoL were self-estimated with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and the SF-36 Health Survey questionnaire or the EORTC-QLQ30, respectively. RESULTS: The weekly energy expenditure was higher (p<0.01) in the CON group (2658.4 ± 2763.6 METs) compared with all clinical populations examined (CA: 2176.5 ± 2033.6 METs; HYP: 1560.9 ± 760.2 METs; MS: 64.2 ± 67.6 METs). Moreover, the metabolic cost of vigorous intensity PA was low in CA (30.6 ± 114.9 METs), HYP (36.9 ± 92.1 METs) and MS (0 METs), in contrast with the controls (1020.0 ± 1472.5 METs) (p<0.001). Differences were also revealed in walking energy expenditure between CON and MS group (1653.4 ± 1726.4 vs 114.0 ± 163.1 METs; p<0.05). Physical functioning (PF) score was higher in CON (85.5 ± 15.1) compared with MS (31.3 ± 31.2; p<0.001) and CA (69.4 ± 22.0; p<0.05). Furthermore, QoL was assessed as poor in MS (29.5 ± 20.4) and moderate to high in CA, (59.8 ± 17.5) CON (71.10 ± 18.7), HYP (71.4 ± 14.3) (p<0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: Our findings revealed that clinical populations included in this study had a lower total weekly energy expenditure compared to healthy individuals, without engaging in high-intensity PA. In particular, MS patients exhibited the lowest rates of PA, PF and QoL, while CA and HYP group showed higher scores in of PA, PF and QoL, implying a potential relationship between PA and QoL. The specific nature of each disease may explain the differences observed among the clinical populations examined.