Research

Mixed

A complex lifestyle intervention combining high-intensity interval training (HIIT), dietary counseling, and behavioral habit-change strategies is feasible and safe for inactive older adults (55-75 years) with obesity and elevated cardiovascular disease risk, provided the intervention schedule is optimized to prevent early dropout.

For inactive older adults with obesity and heart disease risk, a supervised program combining high-intensity cycling intervals, resistance training, and dietary/behavioral counseling is safe and feasible. Key to success is staggering the schedule: do not overload participants with dietary and psychological counseling simultaneously with the start of intense exercise. Ensure the program includes social components, as this improves adherence.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
This study indicates that it is feasible to conduct a full-scale RCT of a multi-component randomized intervention trial... No dropouts due to exercise-induced injury indicates that the exercises were safe. While minor improvements in logistics were implemented during the intervention, we will improve recruitment and adherence strategies, rearrange schedule of intervention contents (exercise, diet, and psychology)... to maximize outcome effects in the RESTART protocol.
Trygve Deraas et al. · Pilot and Feasibility Studies · 2021

Why this rating

Single-arm feasibility study with small sample size (n=13 completed), not a randomized controlled trial testing efficacy.

Source

Complex lifestyle intervention among inactive older adults with elevated cardiovascular disease risk and obesity: a mixed-method, single-arm feasibility study for RESTART—a randomized controlled trial

Trygve Deraas et al. · Pilot and Feasibility Studies · 2021

DOI 10.1186/s40814-021-00921-0

clinical_trial · n=13Cited 10×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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