OBJETIVO: Avaliar o impacto de diferentes intervenções no ambiente de trabalho para aumentar o nível de atividade física (AF) e redução de risco cardiovascular em mulheres de meia idade. DELINEAMENTO: Estudo aleatorizado e controlado com 4 intervenções. PARTICIPANTES: 195 mulheres de 40 a 50 anos, funcionárias de um hospital publico da cidade de São Paulo, que não realizavam AF no tempo de lazer. INTERVENÇÕES: Todas foram aleatorizadas para: Grupo controle (GI; 3 sessões de 15 min; n=47); Pedômetro+aconselhamento individual (GII; 3 sessões de 15 min; n=53); Pedômetro+aconselhamento em grupo (GIII; 8 sessões de 1h; n=48); Treinamento Aeróbico (GIV; 24 sessões de 30 min; n=47). Intervenções realizadas por 3 meses. DESFECHOS: Nº de passos total e moderado(>110 passos/min) pedômetro Yamax-PW 610, massa corpórea (Kg), circunferência cintura (cm) e fatores de saúde relacionados à qualidade de vida(FSRQV) após 3 e 6 meses. ANÁLISE ESTATÍSTICA: ANOVA de 1 fator e o pos-hoc de Holm-Sidak. Efetividade foi avaliada pela intenção de tratar. Calculou-se o tamanho do efeito. RESULTADOS: Apenas os grupos que utilizaram os pedômetros (GII e GIII) aumentaram significativamente o número total de passos após 3 meses (P <0,05), no entanto foram observados incrementos maiores no GIII do que no GII (P <0,05). GIII também aumentou o número de passos moderado. Além disso, depois de 6 meses, não foi observada diferença entre os grupos. Com relação às medidas antropométricas, somente as mulheres que participaram do GIV tiveram redução significativa da massa corpórea após 3 e 6 meses (-0,7 kg) e da circunferência abdominal após 3 meses (-0,9 cm). Não ocorreram mudanças no FSRQV. Por último, verificou-se que as intervenções com maior nº de sessões(GIII e GIV) tiveram maior desistência (respectivamente, 30% e 45%) das participantes quando comparada aos grupos GI e GII (respectivamente, 2% e 4%) (P<0,05). CONCLUSÃO: O uso do pedômetro associada ao aconselhamento em grupo é mais efetiva para aumentar o nível de AF diária enquanto que um programa de exercício físico reduz o peso. Porém estas estratégias foram efetivas a curto prazo sugerindo a necessidade de mantê-las constantemente disponíveis às trabalhadoras / PURPOSE: Evaluate the impact of different interventions at workplace to increase the physical activity (PA) and to reduce cardiovascular risk in middle-aged women. DESIGN: RCT with 4 arms. Realized between, February (2010 - 2012) and data analyzed between March and July (2012). SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: 195 women aged 40 to 50 years that did not perform PA in leisure time were randomly assigned to one of 4 interventions. INTERVENTION: Control group (GI) a brief medical orientation (n = 47); Pedometer-Based Individual Counseling (GII) (n = 53); Pedometer-based Group Counseling (GIII) (n = 48); Aerobic Training (GIV, n = 47). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Median change for total steps number (primary outcome), median change for moderate (>110 steps/min) steps number, body mass and waist circumference (secondary outcomes) after 3 or 6 months of intervention. RESULTS: Only the groups using pedometers (GII and GIII) significantly increased total steps number after 3 months (P<0.05); however the increase in total steps observed in GIII was higher than in GII (p<0.05). GIII also increased the number of moderate steps number. Moreover, after 6 months, no difference was observed among groups. Despite that, women did not modify the body mass that was reduced only in those of the AT group either after 3 and 6 months (-0.7 Kg) (P<0.05). Finally, it was found that interventions with the greatest number of sessions (GIII and GIV) had higher dropout (respectively, 30% and 45%) of participants when compared to GI and GII (respectively, 2% and 4%) (p <0.05).CONCLUSIONS: A pedometer-based intervention with counseling groups at workplace was more effective to increase physical activity at daily life while aerobic training is more effective for weight loss

In comparison to normally developing children, many children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) do not possess the same opportunities to be physically active due to the impairments exhibited by their disorder. A systematic review using the Downs and Black checklist and the PEDro scale was conducted to assess the methodological quality of the literature on promoting physical activity in children with ASD. The following inclusion criteria had to be met: (1) subjects must include children with a clinical ASD diagnosis (2) the children have to be under the age of thirteen years old (3) the interventions must target physical activity; lastly, (4) they must be a relevant peer-reviewed English language study. The search was conducted using four electronic databases: MEDLINE, ERIC, PsycInfo, and CINHL with no restriction on the publication year. The following keywords were utilized: "Autism", "ASD/ Autism Spectrum Disorder", "Asperger", "Pervasive Developmental Disorder" Those terms were paired with "physical activity", "physical exercise", "exercise", "fitness", "aerobic", "swim", "aquatic", "jog", "walk", "recreational activity" Which were also paired with the terms "school age", "child", "toddler", "preadolescent". This multi-step search procedure occurred during February 2013. The methodological quality of six studies was evaluated in February 2013. Overall, the conclusive scores determined by the Downs and and Black checklist and the PEDro scale varied greatly. The scores reported by the Downs and Black checklist ranged from 19 to 21 on a 27-point scale. PEDro scale yielded scores ranging between two and six on a 10-point scale. A vote count revealed that the exercise interventions increased the physical fitness, aquatic skills, social behaviors, and sensory integration children with ASD. In summary, the variation within the scores and the quality of the studies leads to a demand for future research.; In order to adequately determine what exercise interventions effectively increase physical activity in children with ASD, future researchers should conduct randomized controlled trials in order to produce the highest quality of evidence.