Gemeinschaftsmedizin und Gesundheitserziehung

Abstrakt

Behavioral Impact of Community Based Cardiovascular Screening

Weisman SM, Manganaro AJ, Reizes JM, Garbani NI, Zywicki S, Conte MS

Introduction: There is a significant burden of chronic disease related to lifestyle factors, such as poor diet and physical inactivity. Preventive community-based health screenings have been shown to improve health behaviors.

Methods: Participants self-selected to receive cardiovascular screening services provided by Life Line Screening, LLC in 2015. In total, 3,267 screening participants were surveyed and utilized for this analysis. Following their initial screening, subjects were contacted to complete a follow-up survey which assessed their behavior modifications. These results were compared to a control group, comprised of 608 screening-naïve individuals contacted in 2016.

Results: Survey results demonstrated a statistically significant difference between screened and unscreened individuals for all follow-up survey questions related to behavioral modifications (e.g. eating healthier foods, increasing exercises, etc.) The follow-up survey comparison of participants with “normal” cardiovascular screening results, versus participants with “abnormal” or “critical” screening results did not generally differ.

Conclusions: Regardless of cardiovascular screening results (i.e. normal, abnormal, or critical), participants generally took action to modify their lifestyle; however, participants with abnormal and critical findings were more likely to report taking all of their medicines as prescribed by their doctor. Furthermore, screening participants were more likely to report making healthy behavior modifications compared to screening-naïve individuals.