Effects of a short health education intervention on physical activity, arterial stiffness and cardiac autonomic function in individuals with moderate-to-high cardiovascular risk.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the effects of a short health education and counseling intervention program, in a primary healthcare setting, on daily physical activity (PA), arterial stiffness, and cardiac autonomic function in individuals with moderate-to-high risk of cardiovascular disease. METHODS: This was a parallel-group study with a 4-month-long intervention, plus 8 months of follow-up. 164 individuals with moderate-to-high cardiovascular risk were allocated to either an intervention (n = 87) or a control group (n = 77). The intervention consisted of 3 walking and face-to-face group sessions plus text messages. Primary outcome was daily PA (sedentary time, light and moderate-to-vigorous PA, all in min/day); secondary outcomes were arterial stiffness i.e., carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV, m/s)] and cardiac autonomic function [(i.e., standard deviation of all N-N intervals (SDNN, ms) and absolute high frequency (HF, ms2)]. RESULTS: There were not significant group*time interactions for sedentary time [-7.4 (7.6); p = 0.331)], light PA [4.4 (6.4); p = 0.491] or moderate-to-vigorous PA [0.1 (2.6); p = 0.938]. Considering secondary outcomes, there were not significant group*time interactions for cfPWV [0.09 (0.18); p = 0.592], Ln_SDNN [0.09 (0.06); p = 0.148], or Ln_HF [0.16 (0.14); p = 0.263]. CONCLUSION: The program did not improve daily PA, arterial stiffness, or the autonomic cardiac function. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Primary care staff should consider longer or other types of intervention to improve daily PA.

Impact of educational interventions on primary prevention of cardiovascular disease: A systematic review with a focus on physical activity.

BACKGROUND: Evidence from epidemiological and experimental studies illustrates the beneficial impact of healthy lifestyle behaviours on cardiovascular risk. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of primary care health education interventions designed to promote healthy lifestyles on physical activity levels and cardiovascular risk. METHODS: A computer-aided search on PubMed and Scopus was performed to identify relevant studies published from January 2000 to October 2016. Two authors independently selected studies for inclusion and extracted data, including intervention characteristics and outcome measures, namely physical activity and cardiovascular risk or risk factors. RESULTS: Of the 212 identified studies, 15 met the inclusion criteria. The 15 studies enrolled 6727 participants; the sample size varied between 74 and 878 adults. Fourteen studies assessed physical activity by questionnaire and only one study used accelerometry. Eight of the 15 studies showed improvements in the physical activity levels after the intervention, ranging from 5% to 26% in those where significant changes between groups were detected. Most studies reported significant positive effects of the health education interventions on cardiovascular risk factors, mainly on lipid profile, blood pressure and cardiovascular risk score. CONCLUSION: The health education interventions, in primary care, seem to improve daily physical activity, cardiovascular risk factors and risk score.