Influence of volunteer-led net step exercise class on older people’s self-rated health in a depopulated town: A longitudinal study

•Local residents’ active involvement in older people’s health promotion is vital.•NSE provides physical exercise, cognitive activity, and social participation.•Older people in NSE class had significantly lower risk of poor self-rated health.•The association held despite covariates for monthly class attendance or more.•Local residents’ volunteer leading of NSE classes promotes health in older people.

In a depopulated region where population aging is advancing, it is necessary to establish a method so local residents themselves can be actively involved in older people’s health promotion. Net Step Exercise, a novel dual-task walking program, introduced residents to opportunities for physical activities and social participation without any health specialist support. In one depopulated town (Ikeda, Nakagawa-gun, Hokkaido, Japan), volunteer residents have held Net Step Exercise classes throughout the town since 2007. We longitudinally examined the influence of volunteer-led Net Step Exercise class participation on subsequent self-rated health in all individuals aged 70–79 years living in Ikeda. A total of 662 people who completed a baseline mail-in questionnaire survey in 2012 were followed until 2014. Logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the association with self-rated health after two years of class participation once a month or more at baseline, after controlling for confounds such as age, sex, years of education, living alone, baseline self-rated health, regular exercise, and other physical activities. The odds ratio of poor self-rated health in older people who participated in classes was 0.53 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.34–0.85) compared to older people not participating in classes. Even after confounding factors were adjusted, the odds ratio of class participation was 0.50 (95% CI: 0.29–0.85). This study showed that participation in volunteer-led Net Step Exercise might prevent poor self-rated health. Such Net Step Exercise classes are a feasible method for older people’s health promotion in depopulated municipalities.