The Effect of Consumer-based Activity Tracker Intervention on Physical Activity among Recent Retirees - An RCT StudyShow others and affiliations
2021 (English)In: Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, ISSN 0195-9131, E-ISSN 1530-0315, Vol. 53, no 8, p. 1756-1765Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Purpose The randomized controlled trial REACT (NCT03320746) examined the effect of a 12-month consumer-based activity tracker intervention on accelerometer-measured physical activity among recent retirees. Methods Altogether 231 recently retired Finnish adults (age, 65.2 ± 1.1 yr, mean ± SD; 83% women) were randomized to intervention and control groups. Intervention participants were requested to wear a commercial wrist-worn activity tracker (Polar Loop 2; Polar, Kempele, Finland) for 12 months, to try to reach the daily activity goals shown on the tracker display, and to upload their activity data to a Web-based program every week. The control group received no intervention. Accelerometer-based outcome measurements of daily total, light physical activity (LPA), and moderate to vigorous (MVPA) physical activity were conducted at baseline and at 3-, 6-, and 12-month time points. Hierarchical linear mixed models were used to examine the differences between the groups over time. All analyses were performed by intention-to-treat principle and adjusted for wake wear time. Results The use of a commercial activity tracker did not increase daily total activity, LPA, or MVPA over the 12-months period when compared with nonuser controls (group-time interaction, P = 0.39, 0.23, and 0.77, respectively). There was an increase in LPA over the first 6 months in both the intervention (26 min·d-1, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 13 to 39) and the control (14 min·d-1, 95% CI = 1 to 27) groups, but the difference between the groups was not significant (12 min·d-1, 95% CI = -6 to 30). In both groups, LPA decreased from 6 to 12 months. Conclusion The 12-month use of a commercial activity tracker does not appear to elicit significant changes in the daily total activity among a general population sample of recent retirees, thus highlighting the need to explore other alternatives to increase physical activity in this target group. © Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2021. Vol. 53, no 8, p. 1756-1765
Keywords [en]
Older adults, Physical activity, RCT, Retirement, Wearable technology
National Category
Physiotherapy
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-45930DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000002627ISI: 000673482400024PubMedID: 34261997Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85110663874OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hh-45930DiVA, id: diva2:1616088
Funder
Academy of Finland, 309526Academy of Finland, 332030
Note
Funding text: This work was supported by grants awarded by the Academy of Finland (grant no. 309526 to T. L. and grant no. 332030 to S. S.), the Juho Vainio Foundation (to T. L.), the Hospital District of Southwest Finland (to T. L.), and the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture (to S. S.).
2021-12-012021-12-012021-12-01Bibliographically approved