Improvement of Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Young men with Cardiovascular Risks Participating in Pedometer-based Workplace Programme

Abstract

Lack of exercise among Malaysians and the increasing cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality among young men are of concern. In response to the wide use of pedometers, daily targets of 10,000 steps/day have been recommended. In Malaysia, data on workplace exercise intervention is scarce. A programme was designed to enable subjects to increase their level of walking as part of their daily work routine and self-monitored by using pedometers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the improvement of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) through a pedometer based walking programme at the workplace. A total of 70 young men (20-40 years old) who were sedentary, achieving less than 5,000 steps/day in casual walking with 2 or more cardiovascular risk factors were recruited in IKBN Hulu Langat. Subjects were randomly assigned to a control (CG) (n=34; no change in walking) and pedometer group (PG) (n=36; minimum target: 8,000 steps/day). Blood lipid profile, anthropometric and CRF were measured at baseline and after 12 weeks. At post intervention, the CG step counts were similar (4983 ± 366 vs 5697 ± 407 steps/day). The PG increased step count from 4996 ± 805 to 10,128 ± 511 steps/day (P<0.001). Results for lipid and anthropometrics variables were significantly improved for time and group effect (p<0.001). In PG, the CRF was significantly increased for time and effect (p<0.01) for VO2 peak from 31.54 ± 9.66 to 40.15 ± 9.55(ml/kg/min but no change in CG (31.46 ± 6.15 vs 31.60 ± 8.99 ml/kg/min). The walking programme improved health status in terms of improving biophysical profiles and cardiorespiratory fitness.