Health education program reduces risk of cardiovascular disease
People who participated in a health education program that included both mental health and physical health information significantly reduced their risks of cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases by the end of the 12-month intervention - and sustained most of those improvements six months later, researchers found.
People who participated in the integrated mental and physical health program maintained significant improvements on seven of nine health measures six months after the program s conclusion. These included, on average, a 21% decrease in fasting blood sugar, a 17% decrease in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and a 12% decrease in their body mass index.
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Patient education program with mental health component reduces cardiovascular disease risks
A mother and daughter participated in the patient education program at a clinic in Irbid, Jordan.
Photo by Kathy Kukula, Americares
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. People who participated in a health education program that included both mental health and physical health information significantly reduced their risks of cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases by the end of the 12-month intervention – and sustained most of those improvements six months later, researchers found.
People who participated in the integrated mental and physical health program maintained significant improvements on seven of nine health measures six months after the program’s conclusion. These included, on average, a 21% decrease in fasting blood sugar, a 17% decrease in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and a 12% decrease in their body mass index.
However, patients in the group that focused only on physical health information maintained their improvements on just two risk factors – BMI and systolic blood pressure.
Data collected at the conclusion of the 12-month intervention indicated that patients in the program with the mental health component improved on eight of nine health measures, while their peers in the traditional program improved on just three.
“The gains achieved by patients in the integrated program were greater than those of their counterparts in the other group and had greater lasting effects,” said University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign social work professor Tara M. Powell, the first author of a study on the project, published in the journal Preventive Medicine Reports.