Effect of exercise referral schemes and self-management strategies on healthcare service utilisation among community-dwelling older adults: secondary analyses of two randomised controlled trials

Abstract

Objective The objective of this study is to explore whether offering an integrated self-management strategy and exercise referral scheme intervention (ERS+SMS) or a stand-alone ERS intervention is more effective in reducing healthcare service utilisation among community-dwelling older adults over time compared with a stand-alone SMS/control intervention.Design Secondary analyses of two randomised controlled trials (RCTs) with linkage to Danish national health registries.Setting Three Danish municipalities: Esbjerg, Slagelse and Odense.Participants Danish community-dwelling older adults, aged 65 years or older, were included in the study. Participants originated from two completed RCTs: the Welfare Innovation in Primary Prevention (WIPP, n=115) and the SITLESS project (SITLESS, n=333).Intervention Participants in the two trials were randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups: ERS in combination with SMS (ERS+SMS), ERS alone or an SMS/control intervention.Main outcome measure Annual number of days with contact to general practice (GP) and days hospitalised for all causes.Results No statistically significant between-group difference was observed in the annual number of days with contact with GP between participants randomised to ERS+SMS (p=0.759) or ERS only (p=0.156) compared with those randomised to the SMS/control group. In addition, no statistically significant between-group differences in days hospitalised were observed when comparing the ERS+SMS (p=0.222) or ERS only (p=0.060) group to the SMS/control group.Conclusion Neither the integrated intervention (ERS+SMS) nor the ERS alone intervention was more effective in reducing healthcare service utilisation during a 2-year follow-up period compared with a stand-alone SMS/control intervention. A potential stabilising effect of ERS and/or SMS interventions on the general age-related increase in healthcare service utilisation cannot be ruled out but needs further exploration in future studies along with the exploration of the effects of long-term interventions.Trial registration numbers NCT04531852 and NCT02629666.