Clinical trial NCT03107741: Effectiveness of Tai Chi Training on Metabolic Syndrome
Official title: Effectiveness of Tai Chi Training to Alleviate Metabolic Syndrome in Abdominal Obese Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Metabolic Syndrome
Keywords: Metabolic Syndrome
Waist circumference
Blood pressure
Triglyceride
HDL cholesterol
Lead sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2017-04-11
Enrollment: 543
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 50
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a serious public health problem in Hong Kong and worldwide. Older adults, the age group with the highest prevalence of MetS, may prefer specific exercise modalities that are suitable for their regular participation to manage MetS. This project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Tai Chi, a very suitable exercise for older adults, to alleviate MetS in older population

Detailed description: PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a serious public health problem in Hong Kong and worldwide. Older adults, the age by specific exercise modalities that are suitable for regular participation. This project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Tai Chi to alleviate MetS in older population.

DESIGN \& METHODS: This study is a three-arm assesscer blinded randomized controlled trial. Older adults aged 50 years or above with abdominal obesity will be randomly assigned to passive control, active control and Tai Chi groups. Subjects assigned to Tai Chi and active control groups will receive a 12-week intervention of Tai Chi and generic fitness, respectively. No intervention will be given to the passive control group. Outcome measures including waist circumference, blood pressure, blood glucose, triglyceride and high density lipoprotein-cholesterol will be assessed at baseline, post-intervention and follow-up (6 months after the end of intervention) assessments in all groups.

HYPOTHESES: We hypothesize that: 1) improvements of waist circumference and other indicators of MetS are found in Tai Chi group but not in passive control group and 2) improvements of waist circumference and other indicators of MetS are more profound in Tai Chi group than active control group.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Ethnic Chinese
* Abdominal Obese: Meeting the defined criteria of International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) for abdominal obesity using Asian-specific cut off (waist circumference ≥ 90 cm for male; ≥ 80 cm for female)

Exclusion Criteria:

* Regularly practice moderate-intensity exercise or tai chi (\>3 times a week of \>30-min/ session)
* Serious medical and somatic condition that prevent participation in generic fitness/Tai Chi exercise
* Serious chronic diseases known to affect mobility (eg. Neurological diseases, musculoskeletal disorder and autoimmune diseases)
* Under treatment for serious chronic diseases (eg. Cancer treatment)

Primary outcomes:
measure: Waist circumference
timeFrame: Immediately after completion of the 12-week intervention
measure: Waist circumference
timeFrame: 6 months after the completion of intervention
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Remission of central obesity
timeFrame: Immediately after completion of the 12-week intervention and 6 months after the completion of intervention
measure: Blood triglyceride
timeFrame: Immediately after completion of the 12-week intervention and 6 months after the completion of intervention
measure: High density lipoprotein-cholesterol
timeFrame: Immediately after completion of the 12-week intervention and 6 months after the completion of intervention
measure: Fasting blood glucose
timeFrame: Immediately after completion of the 12-week intervention and 6 months after the completion of intervention
measure: Systolic blood pressure
timeFrame: Immediately after completion of the 12-week intervention and 6 months after the completion of intervention
measure: Diastolic blood pressure
timeFrame: Immediately after completion of the 12-week intervention and 6 months after the completion of intervention
measure: Bodyweight
timeFrame: Immediately after completion of the 12-week intervention and 6 months after the completion of intervention
measure: Body mass index
timeFrame: Immediately after completion of the 12-week intervention and 6 months after the completion of intervention
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Hong Kong
country: Hong Kong
facility: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
city: Hong Kong
country: Hong Kong
facility: The University of Hong Kong
Study officials:
affiliation: The University of Hong Kong
name: Parco MF Siu, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Siu PM, Yu AP, Chin EC, Yu DS, Hui SS, Woo J, Fong DY, Wei GX, Irwin MR. Effects of Tai Chi or Conventional Exercise on Central Obesity in Middle-Aged and Older Adults : A Three-Group Randomized Controlled Trial. Ann Intern Med. 2021 Aug;174(8):1050-1057. doi: 10.7326/M20-7014. Epub 2021 Jun 1.