Latino adults at risk of heart disease exercise more after receiving motivational text messages five days a week, a pilot study suggests.
Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) affects 13.7 percent of Latino adults and an estimated 52 percent of Latinos are at risk for PAD, increasing their risk for amputations. Interventions are needed to increase physical activity among Latino adults and reduce the risk for this disease.
A survey by researchers at the University of Kansas School of Medicine found that 96 percent of Latino adults in Kansas owned cellphones and 89 percent received or sent text messages every day. This led them to invite 41 of the 82 survey respondents to participate in a pilot study of whether frequent text messages could motivate them to get more exercise.
Thirteen subjects accepted the invitation; two were ruled ineligible because they already were highly motivated to exercise. At baseline, all 11 participants (91percent female) were considering increasing physical activity. After receiving motivational text messages five days a week for six weeks, 10 of the participants reported being highly motivated to exercise more.
Mean minutes of daily exercise increased among study participants from 55.9 to 201.8 minutes per week.
Study: Text Messaging to Motivate Exercise Among Latino Adults at Risk for Vascular Disease: A Pilot Study, 2013, Tracie C. Collins, MD, MPH,