title: Effects of a comprehensive intervention program, including hot bathing, on overweight adults: a randomized controlled trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of a comprehensive overweight intervention program, which utilizes hot bathing, on overweight, community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults in a randomized controlled trial.
  
  
  METHODS
  The program was carried out in a hot bath facility and included 66 community-dwelling middle-aged and older Japanese adults (mean age 61.6  years, SD 7.5, 77.3% were women). The participants were randomly assigned to an exercise, diet and hot bathing intervention group (group A), exercise and diet intervention group (group B), a hot-bathing intervention group (group C) and a control group (group D). The participants in groups A and B participated in a comprehensive intervention program (including exercise and diet classes) twice a week for 3  months, and groups A and C had hot bathing.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After 3  months, the participants in group A showed a reduction in weight, abdominal circumference, body mass index and body fat percentage compared with the other intervention groups. And the lower extremity function (i.e. walking speed) had greater improvement in the participants in groups A and B compared with groups C and D. In group C, in which only hot bathing was the intervention, there were no significant improvements in measurement items.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study provides preliminary evidence that a comprehensive intervention program, including hot bathing, is useful for community residents with a tendency toward overweight.
authors.affiliation: Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo, Japan. r_sakurai@hotmail.co.jp
authors.forename: Ryota
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sakurai
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.forename: Kyoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Taro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukaya
authors.forename: Mi-Ji
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yasunaga
authors.forename: Hunkyung
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kishiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ogawa
authors.forename: Chiaki
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Nobuyo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tsunoda
authors.forename: Etsuko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Muraki
authors.forename: Katsuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Shoji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shinkai
authors.forename: Shuichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Watanabe
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001452:Balneology / Q000379:methods*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D050177:Overweight / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015431:Weight Loss / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: hot bath; intervention program; middle-aged and older adults; overweight; randomized controlled trial