Community wide interventions for increasing physical activity

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2011

Publication History Publication Status: New Published Online: 13 APR 2011 SEARCH ARTICLE TOOLS Abstract Abstract Background Multi-strategic community wide interventions for physical activity are increasingly popular but their ability to achieve population level improvements is unknown.
Objectives To evaluate the effects of community wide, multi-strategic interventions upon population levels of physical activity.
We also scanned websites of the EU Platform on Diet, Physical Activity and Health; Health-Evidence.ca; the International Union for Health Promotion and Education; the NIHR Coordinating Centre for Health Technology (NCCHTA) and NICE and SIGN guidelines. Reference lists of all relevant systematic reviews, guidelines and primary studies were followed up.
We contacted experts in the field from the National Obesity Observatory Oxford, Oxford University; Queensland Health, Queensland University of Technology, the University of Central Queensland; the University of Tennessee and Washington University; and handsearched six relevant journals.
The searches were last updated to the end of November 2009 and were not restricted by language or publication status.
Selection criteria Cluster randomised controlled trials, randomised controlled trials (RCT), quasi-experimental designs which used a control population for comparison, interrupted time-series (ITS) studies, and prospective controlled cohort studies (PCCS) were included.
Only studies with a minimum six-month follow up from the start of the intervention to measurement of outcomes were included.
Community wide interventions had to comprise at least two broad strategies aimed at physical activity for the whole population.
Data collection and analysis At least two review authors independently extracted the data and assessed the risk of bias of each included study.
Outcome measures were grouped according to whether they were dichotomous (physically active, physically active during leisure time and sedentary or physically inactive) or continuous (leisure time physical activity, walking, energy expenditure).
For dichotomous measures we calculated the unadjusted and adjusted risk difference, and the unadjusted and adjusted relative risk.