Associations between Tai Chi Chung program, anxiety, and cardiovascular risk factors

To examine the effects of a Tai Chi Chung (TCC) program, an efficiency approach, on anxiety and cardiovascular risk factors.

A quasi-experimental study.

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.

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.

Generalized estimating equations were used to evaluate the changes.

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.

The results highlight the long-term benefits of a TCC program in facilitating health promotion by reducing anxiety and risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.