Article type
Abstract
"Background: As the rapid aging of populations, elderly health has become an importance global issue. Exercise is widely recognized as an important factor in promoting the health of the elderly. However, due to limited physical strength, elderly individuals may difficult to sustain long periods of high-intensity exercise. The new concept of ""snack exercise"" is defined as the use of short, accumulated bouts of exercise in small pockets of time to improve physical function. However, there is lack of systematic review to exploring its effectiveness.
Objectives: To explore the effects of snack exercise on physical activity function in older adults, through a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Methods: This systematic review and meta-analysis followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline. Five English and Chinese databases: Airiti Library, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and PubMed were searched. The search of the literature published prior to November 2023, keywords including ""snack exercise"" and ""older adult"" were used. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included. A total of 3 RCTs met the criteria. The literature quality was assessed according to the randomised controlled trial checklist of Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP, 2021). Extracted data were entered and analyzed using RevMan 5.4 software.
Results: The meta-analysis indicated that snack exercise was not significant improved the speed of 5 times sit-to-stand (2 RCTs, MD= -0.26 seconds, p=.76), and the number of 60-seconds of sit-to-stand (2 RCTs, MD= 4.88 times，p=.14), but had potential clinical benefit.
Conclusions: The snack exercise has better clinical benefits than the daily activity, but the difference was not significant. The existing evidence is still weak, which is a limitation of this study. We recommended that more research evidence needs to be synthesized in the future to provide reference for clinical application.
Keywords: snack exercise, older adults, physical activity function, systematic review, meta-analysis.
"
Objectives: To explore the effects of snack exercise on physical activity function in older adults, through a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Methods: This systematic review and meta-analysis followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline. Five English and Chinese databases: Airiti Library, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and PubMed were searched. The search of the literature published prior to November 2023, keywords including ""snack exercise"" and ""older adult"" were used. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included. A total of 3 RCTs met the criteria. The literature quality was assessed according to the randomised controlled trial checklist of Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP, 2021). Extracted data were entered and analyzed using RevMan 5.4 software.
Results: The meta-analysis indicated that snack exercise was not significant improved the speed of 5 times sit-to-stand (2 RCTs, MD= -0.26 seconds, p=.76), and the number of 60-seconds of sit-to-stand (2 RCTs, MD= 4.88 times，p=.14), but had potential clinical benefit.
Conclusions: The snack exercise has better clinical benefits than the daily activity, but the difference was not significant. The existing evidence is still weak, which is a limitation of this study. We recommended that more research evidence needs to be synthesized in the future to provide reference for clinical application.
Keywords: snack exercise, older adults, physical activity function, systematic review, meta-analysis.
"