BACKGROUND: Improving health-related quality of life is a primary target of 
therapy for patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Physical activity has been 
demonstrated to improve health-related quality of life in several patient 
populations with chronic disease. There are very few studies investigating the 
effects of physical activity on health-related quality of life in inflammatory 
bowel disease. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the effects 
of 10 weeks of moderate physical activity on health-related quality of life in 
patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
METHODS: Thirty patients with mild to moderate IBD (Crohn's Disease Activity 
Index (CDAI) <220 or Rachmilewitz Index (RI) <11) were randomized 1:1 to either 
supervised moderate-intensity running thrice a week for 10 weeks or a control 
group who were not prescribed any exercise. Health-related quality of life, 
symptoms, and inflammation were assessed at baseline and after 10 weeks.
RESULTS: Participants were 41 ± 14 years (73% female), had a body mass index of 
22.8 ± 4.1 kg/m(2), and an average CDAI or RI of 66.8 ± 42.4 and 3.6 ± 3.1. No 
adverse events occurred during the 10-week training period. Health-related 
quality of life, reported as IBDQ total score, improved 19% in the intervention 
group and 8% in the control group. Scores for the IBDQ social sub-scale were 
significantly improved in the intervention group compared with controls 
(ΔIBDQsocial = 6.27 ± 5.46 vs. 1.87 ± 4.76, p = 0.023).
CONCLUSION: Patients suffering from moderately active IBD are capable of 
performing symptom-free regular endurance exercise. Our data support the 
assumption that PA is feasible in IBD patients. PA may furthermore improve 
quality of life through improvements in social well-being, and may, therefore, 
be a useful adjunct to IBD therapy.