Effect of eHealth to increase physical activity in healthy adults over 55 years: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract

To estimate the effect of eHealth interventions on increasing physical activity (PA) in healthy adults over 55years, a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. MEDLINE, Cochrane, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, and Scopus databases were searched, from inception to February 2020, for experimental studies reporting the effect of eHealth interventions on steps/day, daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA min/day), PA min/week, and MVPA min/week among adults over 55years. The DerSimonian and Laird method was used to compute a pooled effect size (ES) estimate and the respective 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Eighteen studies were included in this meta-analysis with adults whose age ranged from 58 to 74.2years. The interventions lasted between four and 52weeks. The ES estimates of eHealth interventions on increasing PA were 0.59 (95% CI: 0.15-1.02) for steps/day, 0.49 (95% CI: 0.17-0.80) for daily MVPA, 0.13 (95% CI: 0.01-0.24) for total weekly PA and 0.31 (95% CI: 0.13-0.48) for weekly MVPA. Considering clinical improvements, the mean change difference estimates were an increase of 1616.28 steps/day (95% CI: 386.25-2846.31), 7.41minutes of daily MVPA (95% CI: 3.24-11.57), 40.54minutes of total weekly PA (95% CI: -8.71 to 89.79) and 56.35minutes of weekly MVPA (95% CI: 17.43-95.27). In conclusion, eHealth interventions are effective in increasing PA levels among adults over 55years, resulting in increased steps/day, MVPA min/day, PA min/week and MVPA min/week.