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Lifestyle initiative improves physical activity, diet
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Documenting lifestyle behaviors among a population through electronic health records may play a role in lowering CVD risks over time, according to findings published in Preventive Medicine Reports.
Gretchen Benson, RD, CDE, and colleagues assessed how lifestyle risk factors changed at population level in the context of a community-based CVD prevention initiative, Heart of New Ulm (HONU) project in Minnesota.
“Lifestyle is influenced by a combination of interpersonal, societal and environmental factors,” Benson, population health program manager at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, and colleagues wrote. “Thus, interventions addressing behavior change require a multilevel approach to help individuals attain their highest health potential.”
The researchers analyzed data that included behavioral measures such as smoking, physical activity, alcohol use, fruit/vegetable consumption and stress at heart health screenings using EHRs from 2009 to 2014.
The participants who underwent screening (age range, 40-79 years) were slightly healthier than the broader population regarding BMI, LDL, BP and smoking.
There were community-level improvements in physical activity (62.8% to 70.5%; P < .001) and five or more daily servings of fruit/vegetables (16.9% to 28.1%; P < .001), the researchers wrote.
There were no significant changes in smoking, stress, alcohol or BMI trends.
“By leveraging local EHR data and integrating it with patient-reported outcomes, health care systems and public health entities can forge meaningful partnerships to surveil changes in the health of the communities they serve,” Benson and colleagues wrote. – by Earl Holland Jr.
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
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