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 .
Cost-effectiveness of physical activity counselling in general practice.
AIM To assess the cost-effectiveness of the ' Green Prescription ' physical activity counselling programme in general practice . METHOD Prospect i ve cost-effectiveness study undertaken as part of a cluster r and omised controlled trial with 12-month follow-up of 878 ' less-active ' patients aged 40 - 79 years in 42 general practice s in the Waikato . The intervention was verbal advice and a written exercise prescription given by general practitioners , with telephone exercise specialist follow-up compared with usual care . Main outcome measures included cost per total and leisure-time physical activity gain from health-funders ' and societal perspectives . RESULTS Significant increases in physical activity were found in the r and omised controlled trial . Programme-cost per patient was NZ170 dollars from a funder 's perspective . The monthly cost-effectiveness ratio for total energy expenditure achieved was 11 dollars per kcal/kg/day . The incremental cost of converting one additional ' sedentary ' adult to an ' active ' state over a twelve-month period was NZ1,756 dollars in programme costs . CONCLUSION Verbal and written physical activity advice given in general practice with telephone follow-up is an inexpensive way of increasing activity for sedentary people , and has the potential to have significant economic impact through reduction in cardiovascular and other morbidity and mortality
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 .