A Longitudinal Study of Health Improvement in the Atlanta CHDWB Wellness Cohort

The Center for Health Discovery and Wellbeing (CHDWB) is an academic program designed to evaluate the efficacy of clinical self-knowledge and health partner counseling for development and maintenance of healthy behaviors. This paper reports on the change in health profiles for over 90 traits, measured in 382 participants over three visits in the 12 months following enrolment. Significant changes in the desired direction of improved health are observed for many traits related to cardiovascular health, including BMI, blood pressure, cholesterol, and arterial stiffness, as well as for summary measures of physical and mental health. The changes are most notable for individuals in the upper quartile of baseline risk, many of whom showed a positive correlated response across clinical categories. By contrast, individuals who start with more healthy profiles do not generally show significant improvements and only a modest impact of targeting specific health attributes was observed. Overall, the CHDWB model shows promise as an effective intervention particularly for individuals at high risk for cardiovascular disease.