A brief office intervention is associated with improved health measures

Robert J. Ostfeld, Yat Wa Cheung, Ilana Saal, Gregory Janis, Yolanda Cabeza, Yunling Du, Sylvia Smoller, Judith Wylie-Rosett

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality for adults in developed countries. Many risk factors responsible for the development of cardiovascular disease are associated with behavior. We studied whether encouraging patients to be accountable for their own lifestyle choices would lead to improvements in subjective and objective health measures in 26 consecutive general cardiology clinic patients. Our hypothesis was, that after a simple brief cardiologist-initiated motivational discussion during a routine general cardiology clinic visit that included a weight loss "contract" signed by the patient, physician and a witness, patients would be more likely to lose weight or to remain the same weight as compared to historical controls. We found that intervention patients were more likely to lose weight or to remain the same weight, (p < 0.01).

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)239-241
Number of pages3
JournalInternational Journal of Cardiology
Volume119
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 10 2007

Keywords

  • Contract
  • Lifestyle
  • Prevention
  • Weight loss

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine

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