In a new study, a 12-week lifestyle intervention helped an
ethnically diverse group of adults with hypertension,
hyperlipidemia, and hyperglycemia reach their goal risk factor
levels without using drug therapy.

These results "refute the notion that intensive lifestyle
intervention is not worth the effort," lead author Dr. Neil F.
Gordon, from St. Joseph's/Candler Health System in Savannah,
Georgia, and colleagues report in the December 15th issue of The
American Journal of Cardiology.

The results are based on a study of 2390 adults who participated in
the lifestyle program involving an initial health assessment
followed by the generation of risk factor goals and lifestyle
changes designed to achieve these goals.

Participation in the program was associated with a significant
improvement in blood pressure, cholesterol profile, glucose levels,
and body weight among subjects with abnormal values at baseline (p =
0.05 or lower for all). Moreover, in a subset of 700 patients with
no know atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, the intervention was
linked to a significant reduction in Framingham 10-year risk scores
for heart disease.

"Therapeutic lifestyle changes can generally be implemented less
expensively than most medications and, unlike single-drug therapy,
favorably affect multiple risk factors," the authors point out.
Thus, the current findings could have important implications for
healthcare payers, which often do not reimburse for such lifestyle
interventions, they add.

Am J Cardiol 2004;94:1558-1561