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In a recent study published in BMJ Nutrition, Prevention, and Health, researchers evaluated the effectiveness of the Get Heart Smart (GHS) program in improving cardiovascular health.
study: Evaluation of a 4-week interdisciplinary primary care cardiovascular health program: Impact on knowledge, Mediterranean diet adherence, and biomarkers.. Image credit: Sven Hansche/Shutterstock.com
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Cardiovascular disease is the second leading cause of death in Canada. Lifestyle changes can improve your lipid profile and blood pressure, promoting cardiovascular health.
You can optimize your cardiovascular health by limiting alcohol use, reducing stress, increasing physical activity, managing your weight, quitting smoking, and eating a balanced, nutrient-dense diet such as the Mediterranean diet. Masu.
The Mediterranean diet includes high intakes of unsaturated fats, fruits, leafy vegetables, whole grains, seeds, nuts, and plant-based protein, moderate intake of animal protein, and minimal intake of sweets. Recommended.
A 2-point increase in Mediterranean diet score is associated with improved health outcomes, including lower mortality, CVD risk, oncological disease, and depression. Health education and motivation planning can improve cardiovascular disease outcomes.
According to the theory of planned behavior, knowledge can reliably infer engagement, which in turn influences intention and subsequent behavior change.
About research
In the current pragmatic longitudinal cohort study, researchers investigated the impact of the GHS program on cardiovascular disease outcomes.
Researchers enrolled 31 adults in a 4-week GHS program developed by dietitians from the East Elgin Family Health team, either on the basis of referrals from health care providers or on their own. Due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), 16 participants participated in the program virtually.
The program consists of four weekly 75-minute educational sessions to increase participants’ awareness of blood pressure and cholesterol management.
Additionally, the program educated participants about navigating the grocery store from a cardiovascular perspective and reviewed diets to improve cardiovascular health. [like the Mediterranean Diet, Portfolio Diet, and Dietary Approaches to Stopping Hypertension (DASH) diet].
In one session, a doctor answered questions about cardiovascular medications. After each session, the participant developed her SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely) goals.
The team conducted face-to-face sessions from May 2019 to March 2020 and provided educational materials to participants.
They took blood samples from participants for metabolic profile analysis and assessed participants’ consciousness using the GHS knowledge questionnaire. The primary outcome was change in adherence to the Mediterranean diet after 4 weeks and 6 months of follow-up.
Secondary study outcomes included changes in glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), blood pressure (BP), and lipid profile. [total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and triglycerides]improved understanding of cardiovascular health after 4 weeks and 6 months.
Additionally, the team compared cardiovascular disease outcomes between participants who attended in-person and those who attended virtually during COVID-19.
They performed a two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA) to investigate the effectiveness of the GHS program using data obtained from May 2019 to March 2023.
result
The study population consisted primarily of healthy Caucasian women, with a mean age of 61 years. Participation in the GHS program was active, with participants attending an average of 3.5 of her 4 sessions, with no significant differences between in-person and virtual participation.
Knowledge ratings differed significantly between groups at baseline and 4 weeks later. Over a six-month period, the research team found significantly higher ratings of Mediterranean diet adherence and knowledge in in-person, virtual, and pooled samples. None of the biomarker changes were statistically significant except for triglycerides.
After the 4-week GHS course, the virtual group’s adherence to the Mediterranean diet significantly improved. After 6 months of follow-up, adherence to the Mediterranean diet was significantly higher in the virtual and in-person groups.
The effect on adherence to the Mediterranean diet increased significantly over time (partial η squared over time: 0.4).
After 4 weeks and 6 months of follow-up, the pooled, virtual, and in-person groups had significantly higher knowledge scores than at the start of the study.
After four weeks, knowledge levels were significantly different between the virtual and in-person groups. However, the research team found that there was no statistically significant difference between the groups after six months. We found a significant effect on participants’ knowledge over time (time partial eta squared, 0.5).
This study found that a 4-week cardiovascular health program significantly improved adherence to the Mediterranean diet, with mean Mediterranean diet scores increasing from 7.0 to 9.2 after 6 months.
Significant improvements in knowledge ratings were observed in both the virtual and face-to-face groups, demonstrating the adoption of the virtual program.
However, future studies should evaluate the effectiveness of the program with a larger sample size with greater gender and ethnic diversity and poor cardiovascular health to increase the generalizability and validity of the study results. need to do it.
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