Effect of novel technology-enabled multidimensional physical activity feedback in primary care patients at risk of chronic disease – the MIPACT study: a randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND Technological progress has enabled the provision of personalised feedback across multiple dimensions of physical activity that are important for health. Whether this multidimensional approach supports physical activity behaviour change has not yet been examined. Our objective was to examine the effectiveness of a novel digital system and app that provided multidimensional physical activity feedback combined with health trainer support in primary care patients identified as at risk of chronic disease. METHODS MIPACT was a parallel-group, randomised controlled trial that recruited patients at medium (≥10 and  minimum clinically important difference, MCID). However, there was profound physical activity multidimensionality, and only a small proportion (5%) of patients had consistently low physical activity across all dimensions. CONCLUSION In patients at risk of cardiovascular disease and/or type II diabetes, MIPACT did not increase mean physical activity. Using a sophisticated multidimensional digital approach revealed enormous heterogeneity in baseline physical activity in primary care patients, and practitioners may need to screen for low physical activity across dimensions rather than rely on disease-risk algorithms that are heavily influenced by age. TRIAL REGISTRATION This trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry ( ISRCTN18008011 ; registration date 31 July 2013).