Camina por Salud: Walking in Mexican-American women☆

Abstract 

Forty-six percent of older Mexican-American women report that they do not engage in leisure time physical activity (PA); 38.1% of them are obese. This study (1) evaluated a PA intervention for coronary heart disease risk reduction and (2) determined which variables affect adherence to PA. For 36 weeks, Group I members walked for 3 days a week and Group II members walked for 5 days a week. We measured the participants' total body fat, regional fat, blood lipids, and adherence to PA The walking interventions favorably affected body fat, with significant differences in body mass index reduction, F(2, 16) = 12.86, p = .001. No statistical difference was noted in the anthropometric and blood lipid results between the baseline and 36-week measures.