Sustained economic benefits of resistance training in community-dwelling senior women

To determine whether the health and cost benefits of resistance training were sustained 12 months after formal cessation of the intervention.

Design: Cost-utility analysis conducted alongside a randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Community-dwelling women aged 65 to 75 living in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Participants: One hundred twenty-three of the 155 community-dwelling women aged 65 to 75 years who originally were randomly allocated to once-weekly resistance training (n=54), twice-weekly resistance training (n=52), or twice-weekly balance and tone exercises (control group; n=49) participated in the 12-month follow-up study. Of these, 98 took part in the economic evaluation (twice-weekly balance and tone exercises, n=28; once-weekly resistance training, n=35; twice-weekly resistance training, n=35).

Measurements: The primary outcome measure was incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained. Healthcare resource utilization was assessed over 21 months (2009 prices); health status was assessed using the EuroQol-5D to calculate QALYs using a 21-month time horizon.

Results: Once- and twice-weekly resistance training were less costly than balance and tone classes, with incremental mean healthcare costs of Canadian dollars (CAD$)1,857 and CAD$1,077, respectively. The incremental QALYs for once- and twice-weekly resistance training were -0.051 and -0.081, respectively, compared with balance and tone exercises.

Conclusion: The cost benefits of participating in a 12-month resistance training intervention were sustained for the once- and twice-weekly resistance training group, whereas the health benefits were not.