Assessing the health economics of two home-based exercise programmes in obese adults

Project Description

Obesity is a public health concern of epidemic proportions, increasing in prevalence across most demographics and increasingly younger ages (Ng et al., 2014) and is a risk factor for a myriad of other psychosocial, physiological, and musculoskeletal conditions (Shultz et al., 2014; Wolin et al., 2010). The high incidence of this chronic disease exerts a heavy economic burden on the UK healthcare system. Allender and Rayner (2007) estimated that the annual cost directly attributable to obesity was £3.2 billion. Physical activity is universally recommended to reduce sedentary behaviour and promote weight loss in obese individuals. Research into exercise programmes for obesity clients is currently dominated by gym-based interventions requiring specialised equipment and personnel, with little consideration for long-term sustainability. Limited access to facilities and travelling distance are common barriers to exercise participation (Franco et al. 2015), and obese individuals often report feeling too embarrassed to engage in physical activity (Ball et al. 2000). Thus, home-based exercise represents an effective alternative to gym-based programmes because it is flexible, inexpensive, and may promote greater long-term adherence (Ashworth et al. 2005). However, for exercise programmes to be recommended regionally and nationally they must be cost effective to implement, even in a home-based setting. The purpose of this research is to determine the cost and ‘value for money’ of implementing two home based exercise programmes in obese adults.
We are about to begin a randomised controlled trial whereby obese participants will be allocated to one of two home-based exercise groups: i) conventional resistance training and walking exercise, or ii) high-velocity resistance training and walking exercise. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the two home-based resistance training programs in combination with walking exercise on body composition, muscular power, strength, psychological factors/quality of life (QoL) and functional abilities in obese adults (