BMJ 2000;320:1470 ( 27 May )

Letters

The Newcastle exercise project

    Conclusions are misleading
    Jury is still out
    Headline for This week in the BMJ is misleading
    Key messages are misleading and conclusions are not evidence based
    Organisational aspects may influence adherence rates
    Group support is crucial to success
    Excluded patients should be encouraged to take up exercise
    Different exercise prescription schemes deserve evaluation in United Kingdom
    Authors' reply
    National quality assurance framework will guide best value and practice in GP exercise referral schemes

Conclusions are misleading

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR---We welcome the article by Harland et al on promoting physical activity in primary care but dispute the conclusion that these schemes are of questionable effectiveness.1 The title for the paragraph for This week in the BMJ that "exercise on prescription" is a waste of scarce resources is also misleading and not justified by evidence to date.

Our response stems from concerns about their intervention approach and our experience in two research endeavours: implementing a physical activity prescription scheme in New Zealand and a recently published randomised controlled trial resulting in long term improvement in physical activity for older people.2

Firstly, we question whether the level of intervention with the control group (information and recommendations about activity) resulted in a comparison with a lesser intervention, rather than a true control group, perhaps underestimating the efficacy of exercise counselling.

Secondly, is lengthy motivational interviewing appropriate and replicable in a . . . [Full text of this article]
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Relevant Article

The Newcastle exercise project: a randomised controlled trial of methods to promote physical activity in primary care
Jane Harland, Martin White, Chris Drinkwater, David Chinn, Lorna Farr, and Denise Howel
BMJ 1999 319: 828-832. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Thurston, M., Green, K. (2004). Adherence to exercise in later life: how can exercise on prescription programmes be made more effective?. HEALTH PROMOT INT 19: 379-387 [Abstract] [Full text]  
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