Impact of Worksite Wellness Intervention on Cardiac Risk Factors and One-Year Health Care Costs
Abstract
Cardiac rehabilitation and exercise training (CRET) provides health risk intervention in cardiac patients over a relatively short time frame. Worksite health programs offer a unique opportunity for health intervention, but these programs remain underused due to concerns over recouping the costs. We evaluated the clinical efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a 6-month worksite health intervention using staff from CRET. Employees (n = 308) and spouses (n = 31) of a single employer were randomized to active intervention (n = 185) consisting of worksite health education, nutritional counseling, smoking cessation counseling, physical activity promotion, selected physician referral, and other health counseling versus usual care (n = 154). Health risk status was assessed at baseline and after the 6-month intervention program, and total medical claim costs were obtained in all participants during the year before and the year after intervention. Significant improvements were demonstrated in quality-of-life scores (+10%, p = 0.001), behavioral symptoms (depression -33%, anxiety -32%, somatization -33%, and hostility -47%, all p values <0.001), body fat (-9%, p = 0.001), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (+13%, p = 0.0001), diastolic blood pressure (-2%, p = 0.01), health habits (-60%, p = 0.0001), and total health risk (-25%, p = 0.0001). Of employees categorized as high risk at baseline, 57% were converted to low-risk status. Average employee annual claim costs decreased 48% (p = 0.002) for the 12 months after the intervention, whereas control employees' costs remained unchanged (-16%, p = NS), thus creating a sixfold return on investment. In conclusion, worksite health intervention using CRET staff decreased total health risk and markedly decreased medical claim costs within 12 months.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Comprehensive worksite wellness programs improve diet, including increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and reduced consumption of saturated fat and fatty meats.
“Examples of findings include improved diet (increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, reduced consumption of saturated fat and fatty meats), increased daily activity and walking, reduced smoking (14% reduction), reduced systolic blood pressure (≈7 mm Hg reduction) and body fat (9% reduction), and lower estimated global CVD risk (≈13% reduction).”
From Population Approaches to Improve Diet, Physical Activity, and Smoking Habits: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association (2012) · cites this paper as [280]
Studies provide relatively consistent evidence that comprehensive worksite wellness programs improve health behaviors and related clinical risk factors.
“In sum, these studies provide relatively consistent evidence that such programs improve health behaviors and related clinical risk factors (Table 6).”
From Population Approaches to Improve Diet, Physical Activity, and Smoking Habits: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association (2012) · cites this paper as [280]
Comprehensive worksite wellness programs increase daily activity and walking.
“Examples of findings include improved diet (increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, reduced consumption of saturated fat and fatty meats), increased daily activity and walking, reduced smoking (14% reduction), reduced systolic blood pressure (≈7 mm Hg reduction) and body fat (9% reduction), and lower estimated global CVD risk (≈13% reduction).”
From Population Approaches to Improve Diet, Physical Activity, and Smoking Habits: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association (2012) · cites this paper as [280]
Comprehensive worksite wellness programs reduce systolic blood pressure by ≈7 mm Hg.
“Examples of findings include improved diet (increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, reduced consumption of saturated fat and fatty meats), increased daily activity and walking, reduced smoking (14% reduction), reduced systolic blood pressure (≈7 mm Hg reduction) and body fat (9% reduction), and lower estimated global CVD risk (≈13% reduction).”
From Population Approaches to Improve Diet, Physical Activity, and Smoking Habits: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association (2012) · cites this paper as [280]
Comprehensive worksite wellness programs lower estimated global CVD risk by ≈13%.
“Examples of findings include improved diet (increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, reduced consumption of saturated fat and fatty meats), increased daily activity and walking, reduced smoking (14% reduction), reduced systolic blood pressure (≈7 mm Hg reduction) and body fat (9% reduction), and lower estimated global CVD risk (≈13% reduction).”
From Population Approaches to Improve Diet, Physical Activity, and Smoking Habits: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association (2012) · cites this paper as [280]
Comprehensive worksite wellness programs reduce body fat by 9%.
“Examples of findings include improved diet (increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, reduced consumption of saturated fat and fatty meats), increased daily activity and walking, reduced smoking (14% reduction), reduced systolic blood pressure (≈7 mm Hg reduction) and body fat (9% reduction), and lower estimated global CVD risk (≈13% reduction).”
From Population Approaches to Improve Diet, Physical Activity, and Smoking Habits: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association (2012) · cites this paper as [280]
Comprehensive worksite wellness programs reduce smoking by 14%.
“Examples of findings include improved diet (increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, reduced consumption of saturated fat and fatty meats), increased daily activity and walking, reduced smoking (14% reduction), reduced systolic blood pressure (≈7 mm Hg reduction) and body fat (9% reduction), and lower estimated global CVD risk (≈13% reduction).”
From Population Approaches to Improve Diet, Physical Activity, and Smoking Habits: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association (2012) · cites this paper as [280]
Interventions targeting higher-risk employees appear especially effective.
“Interventions targeting higher-risk employees appear especially effective.”
From Population Approaches to Improve Diet, Physical Activity, and Smoking Habits: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association (2012) · cites this paper as [280]
Limitations of comprehensive worksite wellness program studies include inconsistent methodology across trials, often relatively small sizes (N<400), and short durations of follow-up (typically <6 months, with a few studies having follow-up of 12 to 18 months).
“However, limitations were noted, including inconsistent methodology across trials, often relatively small sizes (N<400), and short durations of follow-up (typically <6 months, with a few studies having a follow-up of 12 to 18 months).”
From Population Approaches to Improve Diet, Physical Activity, and Smoking Habits: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association (2012) · cites this paper as [280]
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 27 · Cited by 117
- Authors
- Milani, R. V., & Lavie, C. J.
- Affiliations
- Ochsner Health System (US)
- Corresponding author
- Milani, Richard V.
- Venue
- The American Journal of Cardiology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-11
- Volume
- 104
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 1389-1392
- ISSN
- 0002-9149 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2002357621
- Cited by
- 117
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 14.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The American Journal of Cardiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Workplace Health and Well-being
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiac Health and Mental Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Health Promotion and Cardiovascular Prevention
- Keywords
- cardiac rehabilitation, cost-effectiveness, health care costs, cardiovascular risk factors, health education, nutrition counseling, smoking cessation counseling, physical activity promotion, quality of life, anxiety and depression, fat mass, HDL cholesterol, blood pressure, employer-sponsored health programs, return on investment
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Anxiety, Blood Pressure, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Counseling, Depression, Diastole, Diet, Female, Health Benefit Plans, Employee, Health Education, Health Promotion, Health Status, Hostility, Humans, Insurance Claim Review, Cholesterol, HDL, Louisiana, Male, Middle Aged, Occupational Health Services, Quality of Life, Referral and Consultation, Risk Factors, Health Behavior, Exercise, Smoking Cessation, Health Care Costs, Risk Assessment, Body Fat Distribution
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
