A multidisciplinary primary prevention intervention to increase adherence to the Mediterranean diet: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: The role of the Mediterranean Diet (MD) in reducing cardiovascular (CV) risk is widely demonstrated and many studies have shown the effectiveness of educational interventions in primary prevention. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a multidisciplinary educational intervention, that included nutritional, psychological and physical activity coaching, on adherence to MD and on CV risk. METHODS: In a Roman neighborhood, general practitioners enrolled 41 subjects to take part in the educational intervention from November 2018 (T0) to November 2019 (T1). Participants' anthropometric measures, haematochemical parameters and CV risk score were assessed before and after the intervention. Furthermore, their adherence to MD was evaluated through the analysis of food frequency questionnaires using Medi-Lite. RESULTS: The study found a significant reduction of 2.5 points in individual CV risk score, and an increase of 2.5 point in adherence to the MD. The stratification by gender showed statistically significant decreases in weight of 1.16 kg, BMI of 0.47, LDL cholesterol of 14.00 mg/dL, and individual CV risk score of 1.16 points among female participants. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that a multidisciplinary educational intervention model including the adoption of MD could be an effective strategy in Public Health for CV primary prevention and improvement of people's lifestyles.

A real opportunity to modify cardiovascular risk through primary care and prevention: A pilot study.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) represent a major threat to health and primary prevention outstands as the most effective instrument to face this issue, addressing multiple risk factors at a time and influencing behavioral patterns. Community nurses have been involved in many interdisciplinary prevention activities, resulting in effective control of CV risk factors. We conducted a pilot study aiming at describing the impact on the CV risk profile of an 18-month interdisciplinary intervention on lifestyle habits. From September 2018 to May 2020, four general practitioners (GPs) working in the Roman neighborhood of Torresina recruited patients having a cardiovascular risk score (CRS) equal to or higher than 3% and lower than 20%; those patients were included in a nutritional, physical, and psychological counseling program. Assessments of patients' health status were led at baseline, 6, 12, and 18 months by a nutritionist, a physiotherapist, a psychologist, their GPs, and a community nurse. The CRS was estimated at every examination, based on the Italian Progetto Cuore algorithm. A total of 76 patients were included (mean age of 54.6 years; 33 men and 43 women). Mean CRS showed a significant reduction between baseline and 12 months (from 4.9 to 3.8); both total cholesterol and systolic blood pressure (SBP) significantly decreased at 6 months of follow-up (respectively, from 211.1 to 192 and from 133.1 to 123.1). Nonetheless, the reduction was later maintained only for SBP. However, during the last 6 months of the intervention, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, thus, it is not possible to know how much the results achieved at 18 months were influenced by the restrictive measures introduced by the Italian government. When stratifying according to the presence of hypertension/diabetes and physical activity, no differences in the CRS could be highlighted between the two groups. Our pilot study proved that an interdisciplinary counseling intervention program can improve CV risk profile and could be further spread to people that, according to their CRS, would benefit more from changes in lifestyles.