Short-term impact of a church-based approach to lifestyle change on cardiovascular risk in African Americans

While lifestyle modification decreases cardiovascular risk, there are barriers to lifestyle education in usual clinical practice, especially among the medically underserved. To address this gap, "Lighten Up," a church-based lifestyle program was developed in collaboration with the local African-American Christian community. Lighten Up includes a baseline health assessment (week 1), eight educational sessions (weeks 2-9) combining study of scripture and a health message, a short-term health check (week 10) and a long-term health check (week 52). Baseline and 10 week risk factor data have been obtained in 133 African Americans from eight sites (83% women) and form the basis of this report. At baseline, 76% of participants had two or more modifiable risk factors (overweight, hypertension, borderline high cholesterol, or diabetes). The entire group had significant short-term reductions in weight (-2.3 pounds, P<.01), mean blood pressure (BP, -2.1 mm Hg, P<.05), and triglycerides (-11 mg/dl, P<.05). Risk factor improvement was greater among the 60 subjects who attended 75% or more of the educational sessions. In this group, weight fell 2.9+/-0.6 pounds (mean +/- SEM; P<.01), mean BP declined 3.8+/-1.2 mm Hg (P<.01), total cholesterol was lowered 6+/-4 mg/ dl (P = .12), and triglycerides were reduced 17+/-9 mg/dl (P = .05). Lighten Up is reaching a group with multiple cardiovascular risk factors that is not optimally managed by existing healthcare resources. Of the 133 participants, 70% attended half or more of the sessions, and several components of the risk factor cluster were favorably affected.