Table 1 Summary of the characteristics of the included studies. Citations of studies that reported results on domains are listed after the domain

Methods

Number of studies (%)

 RCT with parallel group design [11,12,13,14,15,16, 23,24,25, 31, 32, 34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42]

20 (95%)

 RCT with cross over design [33]

1 (5%)

Setting

Number of studies (%)

 Europe [12, 13, 23, 24, 31, 32, 35, 38]

8 (38%)

 Australia and New Zealand [14, 16, 25, 37]

4 (19%)

 Asia [15, 36, 40, 41]

4 (19%)

 North America [11, 33, 34, 39, 42]

5 (24%)

Participant diagnoses

Number of studies (%)

 Osteoarthritis [23]

1 (5%)

 COPD [12, 31, 36]

3 (14%)

 Cardiac patients [16, 40]

2 (10%)

 None [11, 13,14,15, 24, 25, 32,33,34,35, 37,38,39, 41, 42]

15 (71%)

Participant characteristics

Median (range)

 Median age in studies (k = 21)

70.5 (65 to 81.5)

 Median body mass index in studies [11, 12, 14, 15, 23, 25, 31, 35, 36, 39, 40, 42]

27.9 (21.1 to 31.82)

 Median percentage of male participants in studies [11,12,13,14,15,16, 23,24,25, 31, 33,34,35,36, 38,39,40,41,42]

42 (0 to 88)

 Median percentage of married participants [13, 16, 24, 25, 32, 35, 39]

61.4 (39 to 80.5)

 Median baseline daily step count [11,12,13, 15, 23, 31, 33,34,35, 39, 41]

5268 (2420 to 7697)

Intervention

Median (range)

 Length median weeks (k = 21)

12 (4 to 52)

Physical activity monitor

Number of studies (%)

 Accelerometer [12, 14, 32, 36, 41]

5 (24%)

 Pedometer [11, 13, 15, 16, 23,24,25, 31, 33,34,35, 37,38,39,40, 42]

16 (76%)

Frequency of feedback

Number of studies (%)

 Daily [11,12,13, 15, 16, 23,24,25, 32, 33, 35, 37,38,39,40,41,42]

17 (81%)

 Weekly [14, 31, 33]

3 (14%)

 Monthly [36]

1 (5%)

Outcomes

Number of studies (%)

 Reported results on physical activity [11,12,13,14,15,16, 23,24,25, 31,32,33,34,35,36, 38,39,40,41,42]

20 (95%)

 Reported results on sedentary time [13]

1 (5%)

 Reported results on MVPA time [14, 24, 25, 31, 35, 41, 42]

7 (33%)

 Reported results on physical capacity [24, 36, 37, 41]

4 (19%)

 Reported results on health-related quality of life [13, 24, 25, 31, 36]

5 (24%)

 Reported results on body mass index [25, 36]

3 (14%)

 Reported results on adverse events [13, 14, 16, 24, 31, 32, 35,36,37, 40]

10 (48%)