Loading...
General practitioners are well-positioned to advise sedentary patients to exercise more and to refer them to exercise programs. In this meta-analysis, investigators assessed the effect of exercise referral schemes (the identification and referral of sedentary individuals to third-party providers who prescribe and monitor exercise programs tailored to individual needs) on physical activity and health.
Eight randomized trials with 5200 sedentary primary care patients (follow-up range, 2–12 months) were included. Compared with usual care (simple exercise advice or no intervention), exercise referral schemes resulted in a 16% relative increase in the number of participants who achieved 90 to 150 minutes of moderately intense physical activity we…