Preventing chronic disease risk factors: Rationale and feasibility

Abstract

Objective. The majority of the mortality, morbidity, and disability in the United States and other developed countries is due to chronic diseases. These diseases could be prevented to a great extent with the elimination of four root causes: physical inactivity, poor nutrition, smoking, and hazardous drinking. The objective of this analysis was to determine whether efficacious risk factor prevention interventions exist and to examine the evidence that populationwide program implementation is justified. Materials and methods. We conducted a literature search for meta-analyses and systematic reviews of trials that tested interventions to increase physical activity, improve nutrition, reduce smoking and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, and reduce hazardous drinking. Results. We found that appropriately designed interventions can produce behavioral change for the four behaviors. Effective interventions included tailored fact-to-face counseling, phone counseling, and computerized tailored feedback. Computer-based health behavior assessment with feedback and education was documented to be an effective method of determining behavior, assessing participant interest in behavior change and delivering interventions. Some programs have documented reduced health care costs associated with intervention. Conclusions. Positive results to date suggest that further investments to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of chronic disease risk factor prevention programs are warranted. Widespread implementation of these programs could have a significant impact on chronic disease incidence rates and costs of health care.

Impact of a Senior Fitness Program on Measures of Physical and Emotional Health and Functioning

“…26 Controlling health risk behaviors, physical inactivity being one, is an important preventive practice that can substantially reduce morbidity and mortality from chronic disease. [27][28][29] Physical activity has been shown to be of particular priority among healthy behaviors; Well-Being Index national data indicate that regular exercise is more important to seniors' reported health status than is a healthy diet. 26 Consistent with many of the results of this study on SilverSneakers, the additional benefits seniors can gain from participating in regular moderate-intensity physical activity are wide ranging, including lowering the risk of depression, mitigating the development of disabilities, and improving the ability to do daily activities.…”

Attitude toward preventive counseling and healthy practices among medical students at a Colombian university

“…Several studies indicate that health professionals who have received training in preventive medicine tend to have healthier lifestyles and better attitudes toward preventive counseling [14,15]. Furthermore, studies have observed that counseling has a higher level of impact and effectiveness if the provider is a model of the messages transmitted to the patients [2,[16][17][18][19].…”

“…Modifying these factors would reduce negative health outcomes [2][3][4][5][6], but such action requires intervention at different levels (political, social, community, individual) [7]. Behavioral interventions in clinical practice have been proven effective [8], and diverse models with which to implement these interventions have been established [9][10][11][12].…”

Spreading information for primary, secondary and tertiary prevention

“…Both studies underline the necessity to encourage the general population's awareness of the consequences of unwholesome behaviors, in accordance with Njekela et al, who describe the prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors in a sample of men living in the urban area of Mwanza, Tanzania. Spreading information among the majority of the population is important, as the disease incidence can be reduced only by decreasing the mean level of risk factors among a large proportion of the population, and even interventions with a modest effect can largely impact the incidence rates when such interventions reach the entire population; clinicians, in turn, must reinforce the messages brought by prevention campaigns (Jordan et al 2008).…”