Lifestyle-related education and counseling resource utilization and cardiovascular biomarkers in midlife women with low physical activity.

Abstract

Health plan-based resources are promising avenues for decreasing cardiovascular disease risk. This study examined associations of lifestyle-related resource utilization within a healthcare delivery system and cardiovascular biomarkers among midlife women with low physical activity. Midlife women (45-55 years old) with <10min/week of reported physical activity at a primary care visit within a large integrated healthcare delivery system in Northern California in 2015 (n=55,393) were identified. Within this cohort, subsequent lifestyle-related health education and individual coaching resource utilization, and the next recorded physical activity, weight, systolic blood pressure, plasma glucose, HDL and LDL cholesterol measures up to 2years after the index primary care visit were identified from electronic health records. We used a multilevel linear model to estimate associations. About 3% (n=1587) of our cohort had ≥1 lifestyle-related resource encounter; 0.3% (n=178) had≥4 encounters. Participation in ≥4 lifestyle-related resource encounters (compared to none) was associated with 51 more minutes/week of physical activity (95% CI: 33,69) at the next clinical measurement in all women, 6.2kg lower weight (95% CI: -7.0,-5.5) at the next measurement in women with obesity, and 8-10mg/dL lower plasma glucose (95% CI: -30,14 and -23,2, respectively) at the next measurement in women with diabetes or prediabetes. Our results support the sustained utilization of health plan-based lifestyle-related resources for improving physical activity, weight, and plasma glucose in high-risk midlife women. Given the observed low utilization, health system-wide efforts may be warranted to increase utilization of lifestyle-related resources in this population.