Biomedical subjects

Steven G Aldana

Publications and source records attributed to Steven G Aldana.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Effect of intense lifestyle modification and cardiac rehabilitation on psychosocial cardiovascular disease risk factors and quality of life.

This study examined the effect of the Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease and cardiac rehabilitation (CR) on psychosocial risk factors and quality of life in patients with confirmed coronary artery disease. Participants had previously undergone a revascularization procedure. The 84 patients self-selected to participate in the Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease (n = 507 28), CR (n = 28), or a control group (n = 28). Twelve psychosocial risk factors and quality of life variables were collected from all three groups at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. At 3 and 6 months, Ornish group participants demonstrated significant improvements in all 12 outcome measures. The rehabilitation group improved in 7 of the 12, and the control group showed significant improvements in 6 of the variables. Intensive lifestyle modification programs significantly affect psychosocial risk factors and quality of life.

Behavior Therapy↗

PubMed2005

The behavioral and clinical effects of therapeutic lifestyle change on middle-aged adults.

INTRODUCTION: Chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and diabetes are responsible for most deaths in the United States. Lifestyle factors--poor nutrition, sedentary living, and tobacco use--appear to play a prominent role in the development of many chronic diseases. This study determined the behavioral and clinical impact of a therapeutic lifestyle-modification intervention on a group of community volunteers. METHODS: Participants included 348 volunteers aged 24 to 81 years from the Rockford, Ill, metropolitan area who participated in a randomized clinical trial. The intervention group attended a 40-hour educational course delivered as lectures during a 4-week period. Participants learned the importance of making better lifestyle choices and how to make improvements in nutrition and physical activity. Changes in nutrition, physical activity behavior, and several chronic disease risk factors were assessed at baseline and 6 months. RESULTS: Intervention participants showed significant 6-month improvement in all nutrition and physical activity measures except calories from protein and whole-grain servings and all clinical measures except blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. Total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol were worse after 6 months in both groups but only significantly worse in the control group. The control group experienced small but significant improvements in systolic and diastolic blood pressure and high-density lipoproteins. Change-score comparisons between the intervention and control groups were significant for all nutrition and physical activity variables except total steps per week and daily sodium intake and were also significant for the clinical measures of weight, body fat, and body mass index. CONCLUSION: This therapeutic lifestyle-modification program can significantly improve nutrition and physical activity behavior and can reduce many of the risk factors associated with common chronic diseases.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Effects of an intensive diet and physical activity modification program on the health risks of adults.

BACKGROUND: This study assessed the clinical impact of lifestyle change education on chronic disease risk factors within a community. DESIGN: Randomized clinical trial. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Participants included 337 volunteers age 43 to 81 years from the Rockford, IL, metropolitan area. INTERVENTION: The intervention group attended a 40-hour educational course delivered over a 4-week period. Participants learned the importance of making healthful lifestyle choices and how to make improvements in nutrition and physical activity. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Changes in health knowledge, nutrition, and physical activity behavior, and several chronic disease risk factors were assessed at baseline and 6 weeks. RESULTS: Beneficial mean changes in scores tended to be significant for the intervention group but not for the control group. Variables with improved scores included health knowledge, percent body fat, total steps per week, and most nutrition variables. Clinical improvements were seen in resting heart rate, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The control group experienced comparatively small but significant improvements in health knowledge, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, glucose, and in some nutrition variables. For almost all variables, the intervention group showed significantly greater improvements. CONCLUSIONS: This lifestyle modification program is an efficacious nutrition and physical activity intervention in the short term and has the potential to dramatically reduce the risks associated with common chronic diseases in the long term.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Financial impact of a comprehensive multisite workplace health promotion program.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study is to determine if the Washoe County School District Wellness Program impacted employee health care costs and rates of absenteeism over a 2-year period. METHODS: Outcome variables included health care costs and absenteeism during 2001-2002. Data were collected on 6246 employees over a 6-year period from 1997-2002. Baseline health claims costs and absenteeism from 1997-2000, age, gender, job classification, and years worked at the school district were treated as covariates. Logistic regression was used to compare 2-year costs and absenteeism rates between nonparticipants and employees who participated for 1 and 2 years. RESULTS: No significant differences in health care costs were found between those who participated in any of the wellness programs and those who did not participate. There was a significant negative association between participation and absenteeism; program participants averaged three fewer missed workdays than those who did not participate in any wellness programs. The decrease in absenteeism translated into a cost savings of 15.60 US dollars for every dollar spent on the program. CONCLUSIONS: After controlling for several confounding variables, wellness program participation was associated with large reductions in employee absenteeism.

Absenteeism↗

PubMed2005

The effects of a worksite chronic disease prevention program.

OBJECTIVE: This study determined the behavioral and clinical impact of a worksite chronic disease prevention program. METHODS: Working adults participated in randomized clinical trial of an intensive lifestyle intervention. Nutrition and physical activity behavior and several chronic disease risk factors were assessed at baseline, 6 weeks, and 6 months. RESULTS: Cognitive understanding of the requirements for a healthy lifestyle increased at the end of the program. Program participants significantly improved their cognitive understanding of good nutrition and physical activity and had significantly better nutrition and physical activity behavior at both 6 weeks and 6 months. Participants had significantly lower body fat, blood pressure, and cholesterol. CONCLUSIONS: This worksite chronic disease prevention program can significantly increase health knowledge, can improve nutrition and physical activity, and can improve many employee health risks in the short term.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

The diabetes prevention program: a worksite experience.

The purpose of this study was to determine if the U.S. National Institutes of Health Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) could be successfully implemented in a worksite setting. Thirty-seven adult employees of BD Medical Systems of Sandy, Utah were enrolled in a single-group time-series study using the DPP. Two-hour oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) and other outcomes were measured at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months. Weight, body mass index, waist circumference, 2-hour OGTT, very low density lipoproteins, triglycerides, and aerobic fitness were significantly improved at 6 and 12 months and showed overall significant improvement across time. Fasting blood insulin, total cholesterol, low density lipoproteins, and total cholesterol/high density lipoproteins ratio were significantly improved at 6 months, but not at 12 months. Eighteen of the program participants (51%) were no longer in the pre-diabetes and diabetes categories after 1 year. Existing worksite health promotion and occupational health professionals can successfully offer the DPP and help employees improve glucose tolerance.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2004

The influence of an intense cardiovascular disease risk factor modification program.

In an effort to make intensive lifestyle modification programs more accessible to patients with cardiovascular disease, the Ornish Program was offered at eight independent medical centers located across the United States. The purpose of this study was to determine if one of these independent sites was able to replicate outcomes produced by the original Ornish Program. Fifty program participants from six different cohorts provided baseline, 3- and 12-month data consisting of blood lipids, body fat, blood pressure, anginal pain, quality of life, stress, depression, social support, and hostility. A pooled analysis showed significant reductions in almost all physiological and psychosocial variables with most reductions persisting for at least 12 months. These findings suggest that cardiovascular disease patients who choose to participate in an independent, intensive lifestyle modification program can experience significant improvements in both physiological and psychosocial cardiovascular disease risk factors.

Behavior Therapy↗

PubMed2002

Impact of the coronary health improvement project (CHIP) on several employee populations.

The greatest potential to improve public health lies in the ability of individuals to adopt healthful behaviors. The purpose of this study was to determine whether participation in a facilitator-based video version of the Coronary Health Improvement Project (CHIP) would improve health behaviors and significantly reduce employee health risks. Employees (n = 442) from six worksites in metropolitan Rockford, Illinois, were used in a pretest/posttest design. Employees self-selected to participate in a facilitator-based, CHIP video program. Participants received instruction twice a week, for 8 weeks, via 15 videos shown at each participating worksite. Demographic and biometric data (body weight, body mass index, blood lipids, blood pressure, and fasting blood glucose) were evaluated at baseline and at 8 weeks. All sites individually and collectively demonstrated significant and meaningful reductions in body weight, body mass index, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, and fasting blood glucose. Men demonstrated greater improvement than women, and individuals with higher baseline health risks experienced the greatest reductions in risk. The CHIP video program appears to be an effective method of lowering employee health risks. Future research is needed to determine how long these reductions may persist.

Blood Pressure↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Cardiovascular risk reductions associated with aggressive lifestyle modification and cardiac rehabilitation.

BACKGROUND: Patients who have been treated for coronary heart disease can enroll in traditional cardiac rehabilitation, the Ornish Program, or no rehabilitation at all. No study has compared the impact of each on cardiovascular disease risk (CVD) factors. METHODS: The current study compared CVD risk changes in post coronary artery bypass graft or percutaneous coronary intervention procedure patients who participated in the Ornish Heart Disease Reversing Program, a traditional cardiac rehabilitation, and a control group that received no formal cardiac risk-reduction program. This was a longitudinal, observational study of 84 patients receiving CVD standard of care who elected to participate in 1 of the 3 study groups. Assessments of CVD risk factors and anginal severity were obtained at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. RESULTS: Ornish program participants had significantly greater reductions in anginal frequency, body weight, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, glucose, dietary fat, and increases in complex carbohydrates than were documented in the rehabilitation or control groups. The control group experienced the greatest reduction in anginal pain severity, but also had significantly higher systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that CVD patients who choose to participate in the Ornish program can experience greater improvements in CVD risks than patients who choose to participate in traditional cardiac rehabilitation or no formal program.

Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary↗