Key result
WalkMore trial protocol investigates pedometer-based walking interventions for lowering systolic blood pressure in post-menopausal women.
Why the study?
It is unknown whether adding a message to increase time spent in moderate intensity walking to a pedometer-based step count goal improves blood pressure in sedentary postmenopausal women.
Does a pedometer-based walking intervention with or without intensity guidance improve systolic blood pressure in sedentary post-menopausal women?
RCT (n=120)
Single-blind
Computer-generated
No
Does a pedometer-based walking intervention with or without intensity guidance improve systolic blood pressure in sedentary post-menopausal women?
This study protocol describes a randomized controlled trial to evaluate whether adding intensity guidance to a pedometer-based walking program provides additional blood pressure benefits in sedentary post-menopausal women.
RCT protocol tests if intensity guidance adds BP benefit to pedometer walking in post-menopausal women; leaves open current evidence gap.
BACKGROUND: Pedometer-based programs have elicited increased walking behaviors associated with improvements in blood pressure in sedentary/low active postmenopausal women, a population at increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Such programs typically encourage increasing the volume of physical activity with little regard for its intensity. Recent advances in commercially available pedometer technology now permit tracking of both steps/day and time in moderate (or greater) intensity physical activity on a daily basis. It is not known whether the dual message to increase steps/day while also increasing time spent at higher intensity walking will elicit additional improvements in blood pressure relative to a message to only focus on increasing steps/day. The purpose of this paper is to present the rationale, study design, and protocols employed in WalkMore, a 3-arm 3-month blinded and randomized controlled trial (RCT) designed to compare the effects of two community pedometer-based walking interventions (reflecting these separate and combined messages) relative to a control group on blood pressure in sedentary/low active post-menopausal women, a population at increased risk of cardiovascular disease. METHODS/DESIGN: 120 sedentary/low active post-menopausal women (45-74 years of age) will be randomly assigned (computer-generated) to 1 of 3 groups: A) 10,000 steps/day (with no guidance on walking intensity/speed/cadence; BASIC intervention, n = 50); B) 10,000 steps/day and at least 30 minutes in moderate intensity (i.e., a cadence of at least 100 steps/min; ENHANCED intervention, n = 50); or a Control group (n = 20). An important strength of the study is the strict control and quantification of the pedometer-based physical activity interventions. The primary outcome is systolic blood pressure. Secondary outcomes include diastolic blood pressure, anthropometric measurements, fasting blood glucose and insulin, flow mediated dilation, gait speed, and accelerometer-determined physical activity and sedentary behavior. DISCUSSION: This study can make important contributions to our understanding of the relative benefits that walking volume and/or intensity may have on blood pressure in a population at risk of cardiovascular disease. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Record NCT01519583, January 18, 2012.
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Tudor-Locke et al. (2014) conducted an RCT in Elevated blood pressure and sedentary lifestyle (n=120). Pedometer-based walking interventions vs. Control group (lifestyle as usual) was evaluated on Systolic blood pressure. WalkMore is a randomized controlled trial protocol designed to evaluate the effects of pedometer-based walking interventions on systolic blood pressure in sedentary post-menopausal women, with no results yet available.
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