Please note this application is under active development. If you spot any errors or something isn't working, please contact us at evidence.service@wales.nhs.uk.
Systematic Review
The authors state:
"To assess the effectiveness of pedometer interventions in the workplace for increasing physical activity and improving long‐term health outcomes."
The authors state:
"The review included 14 studies, recruiting a total of 4762 participants. These studies were conducted in various high‐income countries and in diverse workplaces (from offices to physical workplaces). Participants included both healthy populations and those at risk of chronic disease (e.g. through inactivity or overweight), with a mean age of 41 years. All studies used multi‐component health promotion interventions.
When pedometer interventions are compared to minimal interventions at follow‐up points at least one month after completion of the intervention, pedometers may have no effect on physical activity (6 studies; very low‐certainty evidence; no meta‐analysis due to very high heterogeneity), but the effect is very uncertain.
Pedometers may have effects on sedentary behaviour and on quality of life (mental health component), but these effects were very uncertain (1 study; very low‐certainty evidence).
Pedometer interventions may slightly reduce anthropometry (body mass index (BMI) ‐0.64, 95% confidence interval (CI) ‐1.45 to 0.18; 3 studies; low‐certainty evidence).
Pedometer interventions probably had little to no effect on blood pressure (systolic: ‐0.08 mmHg, 95% CI ‐3.26 to 3.11; 2 studies; moderate‐certainty evidence) and may have reduced adverse effects.
Comparison of pedometer interventions to alternative physical activity interventions at follow‐up points at least one month after completion of the intervention revealed that pedometers may have an effect on physical activity, but the effect is very uncertain (1 study; very low‐certainty evidence). Some positive effects were observed immediately at completion of the intervention periods, but these effects were not consistent, and overall certainty of evidence was insufficient to assess the effectiveness of workplace pedometer interventions."
The authors state:
"Exercise interventions can have positive effects on employee physical activity and health, although current evidence is insufficient to suggest that a pedometer‐based intervention would be more effective than other options. It is important to note that over the past decade, technological advancement in accelerometers as commercial products, often freely available in Smartphones, has in many ways rendered the use of pedometers outdated. Future studies should be designed to identify the effective components of multi‐component interventions, although pedometers may not be given the highest priority (especially considering the increased availability of accelerometers). Approaches to increase the sustainability of intervention effects and behaviours over a longer term should be considered, as should more consistent measures of physical activity and health outcomes."