Overcoming Inactivity in Older Adults: Impact on Vascular Homeostasis
Condition: Aging; Cardiology; Nitric Oxide
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The American Heart Association (AHA) and American College of Sports Medicine (ASCM) recommend
      older adults (50≤ age ≤ 80) perform at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic
      exercise on most days ( ≥5 days) of the week. This suggestion arises, in part, from data
      supporting that regular physical activity reduces the risk of adverse cardiovascular events A
      portion of these benefits may be from reductions in the incidence and severity of
      cardiovascular risk factors, including diabetes mellitus, obesity, and hypertension.

      While this recommendation for physical activity has been in existence for almost 15 years,
      the rates of obesity in the United States continue to rise and prevalence of sedentarism
      remains at best unchanged. Researchers have been engaged in investigating novel interventions
      to designed increase physical activity to reach the recommended activity targets. One
      promising intervention involves use of inexpensive, easy to use pedometers that allow
      individuals to objectively track the number of steps taken during a set period of time.
      Recent data suggest that an average of 10,000 steps/day as measured by a pedometer accurately
      estimates the activity levels recommended by the AHA, ASCM, and US government public health
      guidelines.

      While the benefits of habitual exercise are well-documented, there are no data that
      demonstrate current recommendations for moderate physical activity in older adults by the
      ASCM, AHA, and US public health guidelines reduce the risk of adverse cardiovascular events.
      Interestingly, prior work indicates that pedometer-centered interventions can increase
      physical activity, suggesting that this type of intervention could potentially lead to
      cardiovascular benefits. Using validated surrogate markers of cardiovascular risk including
      brachial artery endothelial function, tonometric measurements of vascular stiffness, and
      measurements derived from transthoracic echocardiography, we will determine whether
      increasing the physical activity of sedentary adults to an average of 10,000 steps or
      more/day translates into improvements in cardiovascular health. This will be determined in
      the context of a randomized control trial employing a control group, a study group that uses
      a pedometer alone, and an intervention that couples a pedometer with internet-based
      motivational messaging software demonstrated in our preliminary data to encourage older
      adults to reach and exceed the 10,000 steps/day goal.
    


Intervention name(s): Pedometer to Increase Physical Activity
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): The pedometer will be given to arms 2 and 3 (pedometer only and pedometer+software intervention) to help them guide their increase in physical activity.
Other intervention name(s): Omron Pocket Pedometer
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Investigator)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Aging; Endothelium,Vascular; Arterial Remodeling; Ventricular Vascular Coupling; Nitric Oxide; Walking; Software