The Effectiveness of Lifestyle Physical Activity Interventions to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease

Lifestyle interventions have evolved from proof of concept pilot studies to efficacy and effectiveness studies and have now moved toward translation and dissemination studies because of their demonstrated ability to improve cardiovascular diseases (CVD) outcomes including blood pressure. When combined with diet, they also have demonstrated the ability to normalize blood glucose and help to regulate weight. This review highlights the converging lines of evidence that led to lifestyle physical activity interventions beginning with early epidemiology studies and provides evidence for the efficacy and effectiveness of lifestyle interventions. However, if lifestyle interventions are to play a role in preventing CVD and improving CVD outcomes, their use must be more widespread. This will require translational and dissemination research in order to understand how to move into real world settings. Successful examples of translational studies will be highlighted and issues related to theoretical and practical issues as well as capacity building will be discussed. Building bridges between research and practice must be done if lifestyle interventions are to deliver on their public health promise.