Gemeinschaftsmedizin und Gesundheitserziehung

Abstrakt

Effects of a Comprehensive Health and Wellness Program on Administrative Employees of a Corporation in Mexico

Alejandra Rullán, Jimena García, Marghel Alvarez, Juan O Talavera, YiFang Chu and Patricia Clark

Background: The workplace is one of the most important settings for health promotion, because it directly affects the physical, mental, economic, and social well-beings of workers and their families, as well as the communities and society where they live. In Mexico, approximately 40% of deaths occur in economically productive age groups due to health conditions associated with chronic diseases. Most of the deaths may be preventable with a healthy lifestyle, since diet and physical activity have been shown to significantly reduce the disease risks. In our study, we measured the effects of a health and wellness program, Vive Saludable ADN, on some markers of health of administrative staff of a corporation in 2008 and 2009. The program had three components, physical activity (A), rest (D) and nutrition (N), with a clear intervention strategy for each component, and used the appropriate in-house facilities and full-time nutritionists to help implement the interventions. The main strength of this program consisted in blending the components in parallel. Methods: Anthropometric, clinical, and biochemical measurements were performed at baseline and after 6-months of nutritional (N) and physical activity (A) interventions in 712 participants at the corporation. With recommendations of apply rest (D) in their day to day work life. The numbers of steps walked and nutritional guidance visits made were used to establish compliance, and were an essential part of the data analysis. Baseline and post-intervention data were compared using Wilcoxon tests, with statistical significance set at p<0.05. Intent-to-treat analysis was performed based on compliance defined as completing >80% of the recommended walking of 10,000 steps a day for the physical activity intervention and completing >80% of the recommended visits with a nutritionist for the nutrition intervention. Results: The program significantly reduced their BMI by 1.23%, waist circumference by 0.37%, total cholesterol level by 3%, and triglyceride level by 1.71% in the whole group, but higher and significant reductions were observed among the participants who comply with both physical activity and nutritional interventions (BMI, waist circumference, and total cholesterol and triglyceride levels by 2.47%, 5.30%, 6.00%, and 12.29%, respectively). Conclusions: The VS ADN program improved the health status of the corporation workers. The nutritional intervention-compliant group had better biochemical outcomes than the physical activity intervention-compliant group but participants who complied with both interventions gained significantly greater health benefits.