Objectives: Clinicians recommend diet and exercise for overweight/obese patients. We conducted a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled clinical trial evaluating goal setting and pedometer use versus usual care on weight, waist circumference, and blood pressure of patients with multiple chronic conditions.
Methods: In this trial, we recruited and randomized patients over 18 years with multiple chronic conditions. There were two groups with an immediate intervention group who received behavioral coaching and a pedometer versus a delayed control who received the intervention after 2 months. We evaluated body weight, waist circumference, and blood pressure as outcomes. We used analysis of covariance to evaluate differences between the intervention and the control groups.
Results: Of 130 patients, mean age was 63.4 years (SD, 17.3). At 2 months, intervention participants lost 0.2 kg versus a 0.1-kg gain in the control participants (P = .44). The immediate intervention group had significantly smaller waist circumference change at 2-month follow-up compared to control at -1.6 cm (95% confidence interval = -3.1 to -0.1), which was driven by an increase in waist circumference in the delayed control group. No difference in systolic blood pressure was observed.
Discussion: We observed no difference in weight or blood pressure between the groups with obesity and multiple chronic conditions.
Keywords: Blood pressure; diet; goal setting; multimorbidity; obesity; pedometer.