Abstract
BackgroundMetabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular events and high socioeconomic costs. Despite lifestyle interventions focusing on exercise are effective strategies to improve parameters of the above aspects, many programs fail to show sustained effects in the long-term.MethodsAt visit 2 (V2) 129 company employees with diagnosed MetS, who previously participated in a 6-month telemonitoring-supported exercise intervention, were randomized into three subgroups for a 6-month maintenance treatment phase. A wearable activity device was provided to subgroup A and B to assess and to track physical activity. Further subgroup A attended personal consultations with individual instructions for exercise activities. Subgroup C received neither technical nor personal support. 6 months later at visit (V3), changes in exercise capacity, MetS severity, work ability, health-related quality of life and anxiety and depression were compared between the subgroups with an analysis of variance with repeated measurements.ResultsThe total physical activity (in MET*h/week) declined between visit 2 and visit 3 (subgroup A: V2: 48.0 ± 33.6, V3: 37.1 ± 23.0; subgroup B: V2: 52.6 ± 35.7, V3: 43.8 ± 40.7, subgroup C: V2: 51.5 ± 29.7, V3: 36.9 ± 22.8, for all p = 0.00) with no between-subgroup differences over time (p = 0.68). In all three subgroups the initial improvements in relative exercise capacity and MetS severity were maintained. Work ability declined significantly in subgroup C (V2: 40.3 ± 5.0, V3: 39.1 ± 5.7; p < 0.05), but remained stable in the other subgroups with no between-subgroup differences over time (p = 0.38). Health-related quality of life and anxiety and depression severity also showed no significant differences over time.ConclusionsDespite the maintenance of physical activity could not be achieved, most of the health related outcomes remained stable and above baseline value, with no difference regarding the support strategy during the maintenance treatment phase.Trial registration The study was completed as a cooperation project between the Volkswagen AG and the Hannover Medical School (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02029131).
Highlights
Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular events and high socioeconomic costs
After 6-month maintenance treatment phase, relative exercise capacity remained stable for subgroup A and C and increased significantly for subgroup B (Fig. 3a)
After a maintenance treatment phase of 6 months, we evaluated participant’s compliance to the given task, the anthropometric and cardio-metabolic outcomes as well as work ability, depression severity and health-related quality of life (QoL) by assessments and questionnaires
Summary
Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular events and high socioeconomic costs. It is estimated that the metabolic syndrome is present in around 20–25% of the world’s adult population and is considered the driving force for a new cardiovascular disease epidemic [2]. People with MetS have a fivefold greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes, which leads to significant higher health care costs and socioeconomic expenses [3]. If diabetes prevalence continues to rise as anticipated, 700 million people worldwide will live with type 2 diabetes by 2045 [4]. Further unfavorable outcomes like cardiovascular events, an approximately twice-increased risk of incident cardiovascular mortality and certain cancer types are linked with the MetS [5, 6]
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