> Report cards, counselling lower heart disease risk
Report cards, counselling lower heart disease risk
Contact:
Andrew Wister, Andrew_wister@sfu.ca
Andrew Wister, Andrew_wister@sfu.ca
October 11, 2007
Participants in a Simon Fraser University health study reduced their risk of heart disease and stroke by receiving health report cards and follow-up phone counselling.
Andrew Wister, SFU Gerontology chair, and a team of researchers from Fraser Health conducted the study. Interventions were carried out with half of the study’s 611 participants, between the ages of 45-64 living in the Fraser Health Region. The other half made up a control group which received usual care.
The interventions consisted of a health report card sent to participants and their physicians. The report cards included a profile of risks related to their physical condition and health status.
Participants were also contacted by phone by lifestyle counsellors – kinesiologists trained on cardiovascular disease prevention- who discussed their reports. The calls came within 10 days of receipt of their report cards, then every six months.
When measured against a control group, those who received the intervention showed a statistically significant reduction in cardiovascular risk, according to Wister, study author.
Global cardiovascular risk, including blood pressure and cholesterol dropped the most among the participants in the primary arm of the study, said Wister. “Individuals also began making better nutritional choices. They were more confident about their health.”
Wister says people often wait until they get into problems before seeing a doctor and being treated. More proactive health care could save money, he suggests.
Wisters next study will involve a mail-out report card, web-based counselling and a telephone/internet coach and will track the impact on cardiovascular risk reduction.
Researchers plan to continue to track participants over the next two years.
The results of the first year of the study appear in the Oct. 9 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Andrew Wister, SFU Gerontology chair, and a team of researchers from Fraser Health conducted the study. Interventions were carried out with half of the study’s 611 participants, between the ages of 45-64 living in the Fraser Health Region. The other half made up a control group which received usual care.
The interventions consisted of a health report card sent to participants and their physicians. The report cards included a profile of risks related to their physical condition and health status.
Participants were also contacted by phone by lifestyle counsellors – kinesiologists trained on cardiovascular disease prevention- who discussed their reports. The calls came within 10 days of receipt of their report cards, then every six months.
When measured against a control group, those who received the intervention showed a statistically significant reduction in cardiovascular risk, according to Wister, study author.
Global cardiovascular risk, including blood pressure and cholesterol dropped the most among the participants in the primary arm of the study, said Wister. “Individuals also began making better nutritional choices. They were more confident about their health.”
Wister says people often wait until they get into problems before seeing a doctor and being treated. More proactive health care could save money, he suggests.
Wisters next study will involve a mail-out report card, web-based counselling and a telephone/internet coach and will track the impact on cardiovascular risk reduction.
Researchers plan to continue to track participants over the next two years.
The results of the first year of the study appear in the Oct. 9 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.