Efficacy And Educational Role Of A Short Period Accelerometer Employment On A Group Of Obese- Hypertensive Subjects

Introduction: The daily evaluation of the life style is fundamental to establish the amount of the “physical activity as therapy” to reduce the cardiovascular risk. In addition to a simple questionnaire, a long period registration by an accelerometer can be helpful to identify active from inactive subjects. The aim of the present study is to verify, in a small cohort of subjects at high risk level (obese–hypertensive), the health outcomes. Material and Methods: 22 subjects (15 male,7 female) were evaluated by the questionnaire and also by an accelerometer positioned on belt for 5 days to establish the daily Physical Activity Level (PAL) distinguished as low walking, fast walking, jogging. The anthropometrics parameters, including Body Mass Index (BMI), Waist Circumference (WC), Hip Circumference (HC) and body compositions parameters like Fat Mass (FM), Free Fat Mass (FFM), Total Body – Intracellular and Extracellular Water (TBW, ICW, ECW) and Phase Angle (PA) were measured at the beginning (T0) and after 3 months (T3) of exercise. The amount of the exercise prescribed for three months and at least 3 times in a weak, was determined by the Cardiopulmonary test parameters using the formula evaluating the max HR corresponding to the 60% of the VO2. Statistical analysis included T-Student test for paired data with a significance at P < 0.05value. Results: Respect of the questionnaire the accelerometer report showed a predominantly inactive life style (PAL=1.49±0.13). After three months of exercise, the BMI was significantly reduced (T0=29.61±9.11; T3=28.8±8.89) in all ( P<0.05). A trend toward a reduction was observed for FM (T0=26.23±10.5 kg; T3=23.08±8.03 kg), for the WC (T0=102±13 cm; T3=93.63±15 cm) the HC (T0=106.±7 cm; T3=101.2±2 cm) the TBW (T0=49.3±9.0 l; T3=41.36 ±9.46 l) and ICW (T0=23.91±6.25 l; T3=22.90±6.16 l) while the PA maintained the values within the normal range (T0=7.84°±1,4; T3=6.48°±1.23). A significant variation was on the contrary observed among the values of the ratio TBW/ECW (T0= 2,41 > T3=2.24; P<0.05). Conclusions: The employment of the accelerometer is associated with an improvement of those parameters strongly related with the cardiovascular risk. The results obtained support the educational role of the accelerometer in subjects at high risk level.