Using a pedometer significantly increases a patient's physical activity level—by a magnitude of about 1 mile of walking per day, results of a meta-analysis suggest.
This increased activity level in turn appears to lead to clinically relevant reductions in body mass index and blood pressure, according to Dr. Dena M. Bravata of Stanford (Calif.) University and her associates.
Pedometers are small, relatively inexpensive devices worn at the hip to count the number of steps a person walks each day. They have recently become popular “as tools for motivating and monitoring physical activity,” with wearers often encouraged to aim for taking 10,000 steps daily. To date, there has been no detailed evidence of the device's effectiveness, however, and no indication that it improves health outcomes, the investigators wrote.
They conducted a meta-analysis of 26 studies, including 8 randomized clinical trials, which reported pedometer use in adult outpatients. Pooling the data allowed them to evaluate outcomes for 2,767 subjects. Mean intervention duration was 18 weeks. The mean subject age was 49 years. Most were overweight and relatively inactive at baseline, but were normotensive.
Using a pedometer significantly raised subjects' activity levels by an average of more than 2,000 steps per day, as long as it was done in conjunction with a specified step goal and the use of a step diary. Subjects increased their walking whether they worked toward a 10,000-step target or an alternative personalized step goal (JAMA 2007;298:2296–304).
Those who used a pedometer also significantly decreased their body mass index by 0.38 from baseline, but their weight loss was not simply a function of the increase in steps walked every day. “This suggests that participation in the intervention either increased activity not measured by the pedometer or resulted in decreased caloric consumption, or both,” the researchers noted.
Pedometer users also significantly decreased their systolic blood pressure by nearly 4 mm Hg from baseline, which is notable because most were normotensive. This reduction in blood pressure seemed to be independent of decreases in BMI, again suggesting that use of the device entails benefits not measured by step count alone, they said, adding it is not known if these improvements are sustained long term.
Using pedometers decreased patients' body mass index as well as their systolic blood pressure. Elsevier Global Medical News