Health-Enhancing Adapted Physical Activity Program at "Mon Stade"

Background:

While physical inactivity is the first modifiable risk factor (2nd is tobacco consumption) for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and cancer in the World, regular physical activity (PA) is a recognized intervention with a high level of evidence, as a key determinant of good health acquisition, maintenance, or recovery for a large number of chronic pathologies.

The following 3 points caught the investigators' interest:

Point n°1: The 2019 collective expertise of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) "Physical Activity: Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Diseases" reported following findings on the motivational aspects of regular or non-regular PA practice by people suffering from a chronic disease: 1) people with chronic disease practice less than the general population of the same age; 2) a significant number of patients do not participate in the proposed PA programs, and high drop-out rates are reported during these programs; 3) only a small percentage of patients maintain PA after completion of these programs. However, there is a lack of evidence and inconsistent quality studies regarding changes in duration of behavior following PA intervention programs. Follow-up of behavioral changes beyond 2 years is extremely rare in the literature. Thus, the problem is of a behavioral nature: on one hand, whether or not a person with a chronic disease adheres to an initial health-adapted PA program (APA), and on the other hand, whether or not a PA practice persists or is maintained over time. The identification of barriers and levers is key to help define actionable means to support adherence and enhance the sustainability of the virtuous behavior change induced by an initial program. This need for studies is underlined by "The group of experts [from INSERM, which] recommends: 1) long-term intervention studies with supervised exercises and 2) long-term post-intervention follow-up in order to better evaluate the continuation of program practice in autonomy", but also "to promote research on motivation and long-term compliance".

Point n°2: In relation to the benefit of PA programs on the physical and psycho-social fitness of individuals, the effects on health are demonstrated. As a result, a decrease in the prevalence of health events and their complications can be observed, as well as a more detailed use of care (drug treatment, consultations, and hospitalizations) depending on whether or not the participant benefits from an APA intervention. The medico-economic impact of such APA intervention has been little studied. Thus, the problem is of a medico-economic nature: the interest will initially focus on the evolution of care pathways over time, and the differences observed according to pathologies, but also according to the participants' behavior, in terms of compliance, or persistence or not in the duration of the favorable change in behavior initially acquired. An evaluation of care consumption and care pathways according to whether individuals have benefited from an APA program as proposed (SESAME cohort) or not (controls) also appears justified and will come later. This need for studies is emphasized by the INSERM expert group, which recommends "evaluating the cost-effectiveness of interventions according to the technique(s) used".

Point n°3: While the attending physician can prescribe an APA program to his patients with a chronic disease through a list of 30 long-term illness (LTI), (Article L. 1172-1 of the French Public Health Code and Decree N° 2016-1990 of December 30, 2016), the practitioner is confronted on the one hand with chronic pathologies outside of LTI list for which APA provides a demonstrated benefit (arterial hypertension (HTN), obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)), and on the other hand with a lack of experience in this non-medicinal prescription. Thus, the problem is of an operational practical nature in the prescription of APA, with a need for collection and analysis of the brakes and levers that can be applied to the prescription of APA, and for training and coordination of medical actors with APA professional. This need is underlined by the INSERM expert group, which recommends "the development of exchanges and joint reflection between the different professions involved in favor of the practice of APA."

Objectives:

In view of all these elements, the SESAME project consists in the prospective constitution of a cohort of people affected by a chronic pathology and enrolled in a 16-week individualized, educational and structured APA program, with a 5-year follow-up, providing support for an observational study whose main objective is the behavioral analysis of the brakes and levers associated with the persistence over time of a favorable change in behavior induced by an initial APA program.

Secondary objectives are: 1) an analysis of the effects of the program on the physical and psychological fitness parameters; 2) a behavioral analysis of the brakes and levers associated with good adherence to the initial APA program; 3) a medico-economic analysis: a) volume-based care consumption analysis: monitoring the evolution of the participants' care pathway and care consumption over time; b) cost analysis: expressing care consumption in monetary units; c) budget impact analysis: estimating the difference in costs between the "APA strategy" for SESAME participants and the "usual care strategy" of members of the French health insurance "Mutuelle Générale de l'Education Nationale" (MGEN) with comparable characteristics in terms of age and gender and belonging to the following subgroups; 4) an analysis of the practice of prescribing APA among physicians, and their brakes and levers for such a prescription.

Methods:

Prospective and consecutive constitution of a monocentric cohort, for the behavioral and medico-economic analysis of the effects of a non-medicinal intervention by the APA (qualified as a research involving the human person type 2 "RIPH 2" within the meaning of article L. 1121-1 of the French Public Health Code).

Duration of the inclusion period: 4 years Duration of follow-up for the participant: 5 years Number of visits for participant: 7 (Inclusion; end of 48 sessions of APA program over 16 weeks (maximum 9 months from start); at 1 year; 2 years; 3 years; 4 years and 5 years) Number of participants: 2024 (506 per year) Due to the lack of behavioral studies in population of individuals with a chronic condition for which the benefit of APA has been demonstrated, the number of subjects required cannot be calculated. Given the experience of a 1st pilot cohort of 600 people with chronic pathologies (including obesity) treated with support from the Regional Health Agency (ARS) Île-de-France in 2014-2016, a number of 2024 people for the constitution of the SESAME cohort is feasible, with a recruitment of 506 participants per year for 4 years.

The participants will be recruited consecutively according to the terms of the French Law (Decree n°2016-19990 of 30 Dec 2016, entered into application on 01 March 2017) relating to the conditions of dispensation of APA prescribed by the attending physician to patients suffering from LTI. For the study, the pathology criteria are extended to chronic pathologies outside 30-LTI list for which the benefit of APA has been demonstrated with a high level of evidence (grade A) including, among others, obesity, HTN, COPD, as well as to the sequelae of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in the context of coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19). According to the prescription of his doctor, the patient will go to "Mon Stade" Sport Medicine Center, and will benefit from inclusion in the program.

The measurements, collections, health examinations and follow-up of the participants will be carried out by the personnel of "Mon Stade" (doctors and physical preparers/teachers in APA, APA master trainees and doctoral students, administrative or paramedical agents) according to their fields of competence and prerogatives. They will receive a specific training on how to pass questionnaires and tests in order to standardize data collection and to know the course of care for these evaluations.

The APA program has been established according to a standardized, homogenous, shared and coordinated practice protocol by all the operators, for each stage of the course: inclusion of the participant, initial evaluation, design, supervision and monitoring of the training plan, and final evaluation. The 16-week program consists of 3 sessions per week, including 2 supervised sessions with individualized educational follow-up by a physical trainer (MSc Sport Sciences, specialized in APA) at "Mon Stade", and 1 session in autonomy (can be done at home). Each session includes: a warm-up phase with articular and muscular awakening carried out autonomously; a 1-hour session bodywork combining 25 minutes of interval aerobic exercises (split type) and 25 minutes of neuromuscular reinforcement in circuit. The intensities and modalities of the exercises will have been personalized according to the results of the initial fitness assessment.

Regarding the behavioral analysis, the characteristics of physical and mental condition, quality of life and behavior will be observed as a function of time, and compared according to the following subgroups: 1) General characteristics: gender, age group, body mass index (BMI), socioeconomic category, childhood lifestyle habits, history of participation in an APA program; 2) Chronic disease groups for inclusion: metabolic (obesity, diabetes); cardiovascular-renal (HTN, coronary artery disease, heart failure, arteritis, stroke, kidney disease); respiratory (COPD, asthma, cystic fibrosis); oncological (solid and non-solid neoplasia); neurological (epilepsy, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's); psychiatric (depressive syndrome, bipolarity, schizophrenia); osteoarticular (chronic low back pain, chronic inflammatory rheumatism, arthritis, osteoporosis); infectious (human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), viral hepatitis C, SARS-CoV-2); 3) Observer" vs. "non-observer" status in the initial APA program, with collection of data on program attendance, the number of sessions carried out in a supervised manner at "Mon Stade" or independently (declarative), the actual duration of the program, and the reasons for its possible interruption ("Observers" = ≥90% completion of the 2 weekly supervised sessions of the initial APA program over a period of 4 to 9 months); 4) "Persistent" vs. "Non-persistent" status at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 years regarding the favorable behavior change initially acquired ("Persistent" = participants with a positive trajectory of the percentages of "moderate to vigorous" PA collected each year by wearing an accelerometer over 7 days).

Medico-economic analysis includes: 1) an analysis of care consumption by volume (consumption and care pathway over time); comparison by subgroups of participants; 2) a cost analysis; average cost by subgroups of participants compared to overall cost; 3) a budget impact analysis by estimating the difference in costs between SESAME participants and MGEN members with comparable age and gender characteristics who follow the usual care strategy among LTI, hypertensive, and obese patients.

Analysis of APA prescribing practice includes: 1) a phase of identification of potential prescribing practitioners from Parisian centers likely to refer patients; 2) an analysis of the general characteristics of practitioners, as well as their PA level by questionnaire; 3) an analysis of their barriers and levers to the practice of PA; 4) an analysis of their barriers and levers to the prescription of APA with a questionnaire dedicated to this objective; 5) the participatory development of the prescription and patient follow-up tools.