title: Associations between Tai Chi Chung program, anxiety, and cardiovascular risk factors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the effects of a Tai Chi Chung (TCC) program, an efficiency approach, on anxiety and cardiovascular risk factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  A quasi-experimental study.
  
  
  METHODS
  A community in Taipei City, Taiwan. Subjects. One hundred thirty-three adults aged 55 years and older. Intervention. Sixty-four participants (experimental group) attended a 60-minute Tai Chi exercise three times per week for 12 weeks, whereas 69 participants (control group) maintained their usual daily activities.
  
  
  METHODS
  Anxiety states, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference (WC) were assessed at baseline, 6 weeks into the experiment, and 12 weeks into the experiment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Generalized estimating equations were used to evaluate the changes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants showed a greater drop in anxiety levels (β = -2.57, p = .001) and DBP (β = -7.02, p < .001) at the 12-week follow-up than did the controls. SBP significantly decreased in the 6-week follow-up and 12-week follow-up tests. The participants in the intervention achieved a greater drop in BMI at the 6-week and 12-week follow-up visits than the controls. The interventions demonstrated decreased average WC at the 6-week and 12-week follow-up visits as compared to the controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results highlight the long-term benefits of a TCC program in facilitating health promotion by reducing anxiety and risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Integration of Traditional Chinese Medicine With Western Nursing, College of Nursing, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Mei-Ying
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Shu-Chuan Jennifer
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.forename: Mei-Chi
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Tsung-Mao
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Tse-Hung
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D026302:Tai Ji; D013624:Taiwan