Context: Physical activity is important for the management of metabolic functions; however, little is known whether performing home-based moderate-intensity exercise (MIE) obtains further improvement on metabolic functions in adults with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) who already perform regular gym-based MIE.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of adding home-based MIE on metabolic functions in older adults with NCDs who have regularly performed gym-based MIE.
Design: This was a single-center randomized controlled study. The observation period was set for 24 weeks.
Subjects and methods: Twenty-one older adults (age, 60-79 years) with uncomplicated NCDs, who have performed 30-40 min MIE, 2-3 days/week at a hospital gym for over 1 year, were randomly divided into two groups: performing home-based MIE, comprising aerobic and resistance exercises, at least 20 min/day, 3 days/week (HOME, n = 11), or not performing home-based MIE (CON, n = 10). All participants completed the study and continued their gym-based MIE as usual.
Results: After 24 weeks, there were no significant differences in the values of any outcomes. Conversely, the decrease in waist circumference (WC) was larger in the HOME group (-2.17 [-3.98, -0.36] cm) than in the CON group (0.57 [-1.42, 2.56] cm) (p < 0.05), although not in other outcomes.
Conclusions: Although further studies are needed, we found that adding home-based MIE had a positive effect on WC, but little effect on other metabolic functions in older adults with NCDs who have continued regular gym-based MIE.
Keywords: gym-based exercise; home-based exercise; non-communicable diseases; older adults.
©by Acta Endocrinologica Foundation.