Work-site cardiovascular risk reduction: a randomized trial of health risk assessment, education, counseling, and incentives

Abstract

Objectives: This study reports an efficacy trial of four work-site health promotion programs. It was predicted that strategies making use of behavioral counseling would produce a greater reduction in cardiovascular disease risk factors than screening and educational strategies.

Methods: Twenty-eight work sites were randomly allocated to a health risk assessment, risk factor education, behavioral counseling, or behavioral counseling plus incentives intervention. Participants were assessed before the intervention and at 3, 6, and 12 months.

Results: Compared with the average of the health risk assessment and risk factor education conditions, there were significantly higher validated continuous smoking cessation rates and smaller increases in body mass index and estimated percentage of body fat in the two behavioral counseling conditions. The behavioral counseling condition was associated with a greater reduction in mean blood pressure than was the behavioral counseling plus incentives condition. On average among all groups, there was a short-term increase in aerobic capacity followed by a return to baseline levels.

Conclusions: Work-site interventions that use behavioral approaches can produce lasting changes in some cardiovascular risk factors and, if implemented routinely, can have a significant public health impact.