Assessments of Physical Activity Before and After and Exercise Intervention in Overweight/Obese Older Adults with CVD or the Metabolic Syndrome

Objective: Physical activity (PA) patterns of older, overweight adults with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and/or CVD have not been assessed previously using objective measures. The Cooperative Lifestyle Intervention Program (CLIP) was designed to examine the effects of a community-based PA and weight loss intervention on mobility disability of older overweight/obese adults ages 60-79 with CVD or the MetS. The purpose of the present investigation was to objectively evaluate the levels of PA in participants before and after the first 6 months of the intervention as well as examine the relationship between PA and weight loss. Methods: Two-hundred and eighty-eight participants from CLIP wore an accelerometer for 7 consecutive days at baseline and at 6 months of the intervention. For these individuals, we evaluated the number of steps/day, PA energy expenditure/day (PAEE), minutes of light physical activity (LPA), and minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per/day (MVPA). Participants were randomized to an education control (CON), PA only, or PA + diet intervention. Participants in both PA groups were instructed to exercise at a moderate intensity for at least 180 minutes/week. Univariate analysis of covariance examined main effect in PA levels from baseline to 6 months and when significant, post hoc tests compared differences between the three groups. Lastly, Spearman correlations evaluated the relationship between change in weight and change in PA levels in the PA and the PA + WL group. Results: Average daily steps/day, PAEE, LPA and MVPA were not significantly different between the three groups at baseline and averaged 5241.1 ± 2091.1 steps/day, 185.9 ± 87.1 kcal/day, 43.2 ± 17.1 min/day and 16.7 ± 11.4 min/day, respectively. At 6 months there was a significant group main effect for steps/day, PAEE and MVPA (p<0.05). Values for steps/day, PAEE and MVPA were significantly greater for the PA only and PA + WL groups when compared to the control group. Mean weight loss was 0.7 kg, 1.3 kg, and 7.7 kg for the control, PA only and PA + WL groups, respectively. As expected, the PA + WL group was the only group to lose a considerable amount of weight (8.4% of initial body weight) during the first six months of the intervention. Further, change in steps/day, PAEE and MVPA were each significantly correlated (p<0.05) with change in weight in the PA+WL group (r= -0.417, -0.365, -0.397, respectively); however, the correlations between change in PA variables and change in weight were not significantly correlated in the PA only group. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that the CLIP intervention was effective at increasing PA levels in the PA and PA + WL groups as well as producing weight loss in the PA + WL loss group during the six month intervention. These results demonstrate that to achieve significant weight loss in older adults with CVD and/or the MetS, increasing PA alone is insufficient and must be supplemented with caloric restriction.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Childress, Kimberly

• Physical Activity

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/14753

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/14753