The Use of Pedometer as a Stimulus to the Physical Activity in the Hypertensive Patients with Difficult-to- Control Hypertension: A Controlled Randomized Study

Regular physical activity contributes to better control of hypertension in addition to other dietary measures and medications. The practice of physical activity and long term adherence to it is not consistently observed in a hypertensive population. We evaluated the possible role of the use of a pedometer as a stimulus to enhance the physical activity in a selected hypertensive population.We performed a prospective, randomized trial in a difficult-to-control hypertensive population that had been followed in the hypertensive clinic of the Hospital Santa Izabel of Santa Casa de Misericórdia da Bahia. This study compared two groups: Pedometer Group, which uses a pocket digital pedometer (Omron HJ-321) in addition to the usual medical recommendation; and Control Group, which was submitted to the regular medical recommendation without a pedometer. The performance was analyzed by the number of steps during 12 weeks observation period with the primary endpoint at first week. Forty-two patients were studied. Patients had largely low-income and low-education characteristics. Their initial number of steps at week 1 were: 6,191.7 (667.3), and 5,249.1 (549.5) for the Control and Pedometer Groups (p=0.28), respectively. At the end of a 12-week observation, the results were: 6,097.6 (547.0), and 5,913.0 (730.6) (p=0.84) for the Control and Pedometer Groups, respectively. In a population of difficult-to-control hypertension, which already had a relatively high number of steps to perform its regular activities of day-life at the beginning of the study, the use of a pedometer does not seem to enhance the level of physical activity beyond what is accomplished by the structured information that is provided in the hypertension clinic.