Purpose: There is a lack of objective data regarding physical activity (PA) patterns of obese older adults diagnosed with CVD or the metabolic syndrome. The CLIP study was designed to examine the effects of a PA and weight loss intervention on mobility disability of older overweight/obese adults aged 60-79 with CVD or the metabolic syndrome. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the patterns of PA in participants at baseline and observe changes in participants PA throughout the intervention at 6 and 18 months.
Methods: One hundred eighty-two overweight/obese older adults with CVD or the metabolic syndrome wore an accelerometer for 7 days, except while sleeping or bathing. For these individuals, we evaluated the number of steps per day, PA energy expenditure per day, and minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per day. Subjects wore the accelerometer for 7 days at 6 months and at 18 months of the intervention. Subjects were in either the PA-only group or PA-plus weight loss group. Both groups were encouraged to walk for 180 min/wk. In participants, we compared baseline PA to the patterns observed after 6 and 18 months of the intervention.
Results: At baseline, the number of steps, PAEE, and minutes of mod-PA averaged 4,717 +/- 1,867 steps per day, 160 +/- 70 kcal/d, and 6 +/- 6 min/d, respectively. In a preliminary group of participants studied at 6 months, we observed significant increases from baseline in the number of steps, PAEE, and minutes of mod-PA: 4,405 +/- 1,966 vs 7,561 +/- 2,586 steps per day (P < .01), 149 +/- 83 vs. 257 +/- 97 kcal/d (P < .01), and 6.2 +/- 6.6 vs 12.9 +/- 10.5 min/d (P < .05), respectively.
Conclusion: These results suggest that overweight/ obese older adults with CVD or the metabolic syndrome have lower levels of PA than generally seen in healthy older adults. Based on preliminary analyses, the PA intervention in CLIP appears to be effective in increasing PA in this population. Analysis of a larger number of participants at 6 and 18 months will be evaluated to confirm this observation.