BACKGROUND: In order to introduce elderly people to be physically active, it is necessary to evaluate which types of exercise show a high adherence. Therefore, the objective of this systematic literature review was to determine adherence rates in intervention programs to promote physical activity in older adults. METHODS: Forty-six studies investigating the effects of aerobic, resistance, power, balance, Tai Chi training, and multimodal training were included following a systematic literature search. Adherence rates were evaluated using multiple linear regression analysis. RESULTS: No significant correlations were observed between adherence rates and exercise programs. However, there was a significant association between adherence rate and training frequency (-2.9%; p = 0.042), training duration (-0.2%; p = 0.016) and number of participants (-0.1%; p = 0.008). CONCLUSION: To ensure a high adherence to training programs with older people, it seems that to a lesser extent the contents of training, but rather the training modalities (ie, training frequency, intervention duration) and the number of participants appear to be of importance.
Copyright Verlag Hans Huber, Hogrefe AG, Bern.

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