# Advancement of Clinical Referral to Physical Activity for Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention

> **NIH NIH K01** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2022 · $134,678

## Abstract

Inadequate physical activity (PA) is considered a major risk factor for cardiometabolic disease. Clinical
recommendations endorse achieving healthy PA levels in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and
type 2 diabetes. The need for wider reaching primary prevention efforts with increasing PA levels as a “central
element” has been suggested by previous studies. PA improvement programs integrated with clinical practice
have the potential to reach a large number of at-risk individuals. Although a framework for clinician
identification and treatment of people with low PA levels has been developed by the American College of
Sports Medicine (ACSM), and clinical PA referral is now endorsed by the American Heart Association (AHA),
the practice of identifying and addressing inadequate PA is not common in clinical practice. This proposal aims
to improve important aspects of clinical PA referral for primary care patients with low PA and additional
cardiometabolic risk factors. Aim 1 of the proposal will determine the efficacy of an inexpensive, convenient,
evidence-based online intervention for improving PA levels that is appropriate for adult patients not meeting the
US aerobic PA goal of 150 minutes/ week of moderate-vigorous intensity (e.g., brisk walking) PA who also
have at least one other common cardiometabolic risk factor (high blood pressure, elevated glucose levels,
and/or overweight/obesity). Adult primary care patients (n=54; aged 40-70) meeting the criteria for low PA and
additional cardiometabolic risk who can safely increase activity without supervision will be recruited.
Participants will be randomized to an active control (to receive a commercial wrist-worn physical activity
tracker; PAT) or an online social-cognitive theory-based intervention (3 months of weekly sessions and 9
months maintenance) plus PAT. Primary outcomes will include the change in average step counts/day and
percentage meeting the 150 minutes/week activity goal; they will be assessed at 6 and 12 months of follow-up.
Secondary outcomes will include body weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting glucose, insulin,
cholesterol, triglycerides, and patient-reported outcomes including self-efficacy, quality of life, cost, and
experience/satisfaction. Statistics on participant usage of the online platform and tracking tools, participant
attitudes/beliefs, and opinions regarding maintenance strategies, will also be collected. We will leverage real
world evidence by examining associations between changes in PA levels and important cardiometabolic
outcomes that are measured clinically and by identifying EHR measures of patient characteristics that predict
changes in PA levels. Methods for dealing with missing data will be considered. The goal of Aim 2 is to develop
procedural recommendations for adding PAT data to an Epic-based electronic health record (EHR).
Communicating patient PA levels with clinical teams through the EHR, using existing PATs holds value, ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10414033
- **Project number:** 5K01HL151668-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Bonny Rockette-Wagner
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $134,678
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-06-01 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10414033

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10414033, Advancement of Clinical Referral to Physical Activity for Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention (5K01HL151668-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10414033. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*