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The cardiovascular health impact of an incentive worksite health promotion program
L S Pescatello1, D Murphy, J Vollono
1School of Allied Health, University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut, USA.
Insights
Long-term participation in a hospital incentive screen program improved cardiovascular health. Employees who chose less formal risk reduction options showed greater benefits than those in structured programs.
Area of Science:
- Occupational Health
- Cardiovascular Health
- Preventive Medicine
Background:
- Worksite wellness programs are crucial for employee health.
- Incentive-based screening programs aim to improve cardiovascular health.
- Understanding long-term participation effects is essential.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine cardiovascular health profiles of hospital employees in an incentive screen program over 4 years.
- To compare cardiovascular health changes between structured (CHAPplus) and less formal (CHAPonly) follow-up programs.
Main Methods:
- Cardiovascular screens, results counseling, and behavioral support were provided.
- Repeated-measures ANCOVA adjusted for gender, medication, adiposity, and physical activity.
- Analysis compared changes among all participants and by follow-up program type.
Main Results:
- 4-year participants (n=278, 87% female, avg age 40.6) showed improved total cholesterol/HDL ratio, LDL, and blood glucose.
- Despite increased adiposity, key cardiovascular markers improved significantly (p<0.05).
- CHAPonly participants demonstrated numerically greater improvements than CHAPplus, though not statistically significant.
Conclusions:
- Long-term worksite incentive screening is associated with cardiovascular health improvements.
- Informal follow-up (CHAPonly) may offer greater cardiovascular benefits than structured programs (CHAPplus).
- Worksite health programs can positively impact employee cardiovascular well-being.
Purpose:
We examined the cardiovascular health profiles of benefit-eligible hospital employees who participated in an incentive screen program for 4 years. We also determined if cardiovascular health changes differed between participants (CHAP) who enrolled in structured follow-up risk reduction programs (CHAPplus) compared with those who chose less formal options (CHAPonly).
Methods:
CHAP consisted of cardiovascular screens, results counseling, and encouragement to participate in education and behavioral support programs. After adjusting for gender, medication use, and baseline levels of adiposity and physical activity, cardiovascular health changes were tested with repeated-measures analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) among CHAP participants and by CHAP type.
Results:
CHAP 4-year members (n = 278) were generally healthy and mostly women (87%) with an average age of 40.6 +/- .5 years at baseline. Despite increases in overall (p = .034) and central adiposity (p = .001), cardiovascular health improvements were found for the total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein ratio (TCHOL/HDL; p = .007), low-density lipoprotein (p = .009), and blood glucose (p = .018) among 4-year CHAP members. CHAPonly employees showed greater improvements in most cardiovascular health indicators than CHAPplus participants, although these differences did not achieve statistical significance.
Discussion:
Cardiovascular health improvements were associated with long-term participation in a hospital worksite incentive screen program. The cardiovascular health benefits tended to be greatest for CHAP employees who chose informal follow-up risk reduction options (CHAPonly) than those who enrolled in structured programs (CHAPplus).
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