Background:The study assessed the effects of a counselling intervention on lifestyle changes in certain-aged people at risk of cardiovascular disease. Design and methods: This was an intervention study at baseline and six-and 12-month follow-ups. The participants were 40 years old (n= 53 at baseline, n=33 at six months and n=34 at 12 months). The main outcomes were cardiovascular health parameters, such as weight, BMI, waist circumference, blood pressure, cholesterol (total, high density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein), blood glucose, and self-assessed and reported lifestyle and adherence to lifestyle changes. The counselling intervention was Internet-based and carried out via Skype or face-to-face in small groups (on average, six participants). Results: There were statistically significant differences between the baseline and the 12-month follow-up with respect to the consumption of fat and snacks. Some positive cardiovascular health improvements were detected between baseline and six months, but not as clearly between baseline and 12 months. The participants reported having a healthier diet at 12 months than at baseline. At 12 months, BMI measurements indicated that all participants were overweight (mean BMI 29.8), but according to the self-assessed data, only 25% considered themselves to be so. Conclusions: Changes in lifestyle were detected as a result of the intervention. These lifestyle changes may improve cardiovascular health in the long term. Discrepancies were found between the measured indicators of cardiovascular health and information obtained from questionnaires and diary records. In order to achieve sustainable lifestyle changes, long-term support is required.

Background: Lifestyle affects the risk of suffering from cardiovascular diseases. Lifestyle and health behaviour are most commonly studied by using self-assessment and self-reporting as a research method. The purpose of this study was to illustrate how asymptomatic people with a diagnosed risk of cardiovascular diseases assess and report their current lifestyle. In particular, the study evaluated how the participants' self-assessed and self-reported lifestyles correlated with health parameters that were measured such as blood pressure, cholesterol level, body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference. Methods: The study material was obtained from a cardiovascular health project in Lapland, Finland, which aimed at identifying 40-year-old individuals at risk of cardiovascular disease. Screening consisted of blood tests (total level of cholesterol, HDL, LDL, plasma glucose) and health parameter measurements (blood pressure, BMI and waist circumference). All participants filled in a diabetes risk test, lifestyle questionnaire and dietary and physical activity diaries. Data analyses included statistical analyses, cross-tabulation, Fisher's Exact test (FET) and Micro-Nutrica Nutritional Analysis Program. Results: 37.3% of the participants assessed themselves to be obese and 54.9% thought themselves to be slightly overweight although the calculated average BMI (30.7 ± 5.4 kg/m 2) showed clearly that they were overweight. Over half of the participants (54.7%) assessed themselves as having the recommended amount of everyday physical activity per week but the physical activity diaries showed that the real amount was significantly less and inadequate in terms of their health. Inadequate physical activity was connected to obesity. As well as the use of hard fat, vegetable and fibre intake was too low which may have contributed to the elevated total cholesterol and LDL levels in the blood tests. This research showed both over-and under-reporting. Particularly, differences in reporting were observed between overweight and normal weight participants in addition to those whose blood test results exceeded recommended level compared with those having results within the normal range. Over half of the participants assessed their health to be either good or at least quite good. Some correlation between the self-assessed lifestyle and health parameters measured were found. Conclusions: The strengths of this study were the multifaceted data collection approach, which provided a versatile view of studying lifestyle, and the special nature of engaging voluntary participants to screenings and the reporting process. Participants' own assessments regarding their lifestyle were not fully in line with either the reported lifestyle or health www.sciedu.ca/jnep