Fiziksel Aktiviteyi Teşvik Eden Birinci Basamak Temelli Müdahalelerin Etkililiği: Bir Meta-Analiz Çalışması

The benefits of physical activity in promoting health and preventing chronic diseases have been proven; however, inactivity remains a major problem in many countries worldwide. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of primary care-based interventions for physical activity promotion. The literature search was carried out on Medline, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Scopus databases. Randomized controlled studies performed on adults, included interventions for promoting physical activity, had a follow-up period of at least 12 months, and performed intention-to-treat analysis were reviewed. A total of 16 randomized controlled trials from 7 different countries were included in the meta-analysis (n=8,762). The most common interventions were providing informative materials about physical activity (10 studies), phone calls for support and follow-up (10 studies), and providing an exercise prescription/program for the participants (9 studies). In five studies, participants were given self-monitoring tools to follow up on their own activity levels. Interventions provided low or low-medium increases in the physical activity duration (standardized mean difference [SMD]=0.21, 95.0% CI: 0.15 – 0.27), energy spent on physical activities (SMD=0.14, 95.0% CI: 0.05 – 0.23), and the number of steps (SMD=0.32, 95.0% CI: 0.19 – 0.44). Although interventions aimed to increase the physical activity level showed limited effectiveness, given the strong health benefits of physical activity, promotion programs in this regard need to be integrated into primary health care.