There was no evidence for a relationship between intervention effectiveness and mode of delivery or number of intervention contacts ; however , interventions which involved individually tailoring with personalized activity goals or provision of information about local opportunities in the environment may be more effective .
Conclusions Interventions in adults aged 55 to 70 years led to long term improvements in physical activity at 12 months ; however , maintenance beyond this is unclear .
Identified physical activity improvements are likely to have substantial health benefits in reducing the risk of age-related illnesses .
Background Retirement represents a major transitional life stage in middle to older age .
Changes in physical activity typically accompany this transition , which has significant consequences for health and well-being .
The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the evidence for the effect of interventions to promote physical activity in adults aged 55 to 70 years , focusing on studies that reported long-term effectiveness .
Aging, retirement, and changes in physical activity: prospective cohort findings from the GLOBE study.
There is increased recognition that determinants of health should be investigated in a life-course perspective . Retirement is a major transition in the life course and offers opportunities for changes in physical activity that may improve health in the aging population . The authors examined the effect of retirement on changes in physical activity in the GLOBE Study , a prospect i ve cohort study known by the Dutch acronym for " Health and Living Conditions of the Population of Eindhoven and surroundings , " 1991 - 2004 . They followed respondents ( n = 971 ) by postal question naire who were employed and aged 40 - 65 years in 1991 for 13 years , after which they were still employed ( n = 287 ) or had retired ( n = 684 ) . Physical activity included 1 )  work-related transportation , 2 ) sports participation  , and 3 ) nonsports leisure-time physical activity .  Multinomial logistic regression analyses indicated that retirement was associated with a significantly higher odds for a decline in physical activity from work-related transportation ( odds ratio ( OR ) = 3.03 , 95 % confidence interval ( CI ) : 1.97 , 4.65 ) , adjusted for sex , age , marital status , chronic diseases , and education , compared with remaining employed . Retirement was not associated with an increase in sports participation ( OR = 1.12 , 95 % CI : 0.71 , 1.75 ) or nonsports leisure-time physical activity ( OR = 0.80 , 95 % CI : 0.54 , 1.19 ) . In conclusion , retirement introduces a reduction in physical activity from work-related transportation that is not compensated for by an increase in sports participation or an increase in nonsports leisure-time physical activity
There was no evidence for a relationship between intervention effectiveness and mode of delivery or number of intervention contacts ; however , interventions which involved individually tailoring with personalized activity goals or provision of information about local opportunities in the environment may be more effective .
Conclusions Interventions in adults aged 55 to 70 years led to long term improvements in physical activity at 12 months ; however , maintenance beyond this is unclear .
Identified physical activity improvements are likely to have substantial health benefits in reducing the risk of age-related illnesses .
Background Retirement represents a major transitional life stage in middle to older age .
Changes in physical activity typically accompany this transition , which has significant consequences for health and well-being .
The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the evidence for the effect of interventions to promote physical activity in adults aged 55 to 70 years , focusing on studies that reported long-term effectiveness .