Differences between the two groups over the three-year period were observed on most of the quality-of-life measurements taken. Costs were $337 higher for the intervention group than for the control group ($197 of which was financed by health care and $140 imposed on participants because of increased physical activity). However, the average number of visits to the family physician decreased by 0.28 per six months among individuals in the intervention group, whereas individuals in the control group made an average of 0.10 more visits per six months. This resulted in a savings of $384 for health care use and a net savings of $47 per intervention participant.

"These results should be viewed in the context of the previously reported favorable impact on physical activity, fitness, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, blood pressure and smoking cessation over the three-year period," the authors write.

"Thus, high-intensity and long-lasting interventions can produce sustainable improvements in quality of life and can obviously be cost-effective," they conclude. "Such programs may be a wise use of resources in primary health care for patients with disease to which inactivity strongly contributes."

Source : JAMA