A Longitudinal Study of Health Improvement in the Atlanta CHDWB Wellness Cohort.

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Rubina Tabassum, Georgia Institute of Technology; Lynn Cunningham, Emory University; Emily Hope Stephens, Georgia Institute of Technology; Katelyn Sturdivant, Georgia Institute of Technology; Gregory Martin, Emory University; Kenneth Brigham, Emory University; Greg Gibson, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Language: English
• Date: 2014-12-22
• Publisher: MDPI
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jpm4040489
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of Personalized Medicine
• ISSN: 2075-4426
• Volume: 4
• Issue: 4
• Start Page: 489
• End Page: 507
• Grant/Funding Information: Funding for the Predictive Health Institute was provided by Emory University, and Georgia Tech University.; T and GG were supported in part by Project 3 of NIGMS P01 GM099568 (B. Weir, U. Washington).
• Keywords: lifestyle intervention; health partner; personalized medicine; chronic disease risk
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, General; Health Sciences, Health Care Management

Abstract

The Center for Health Discovery and Wellbeing (CHDWB) is an academic program designed to evaluate the efficacy of clinical self-knowledge and health partner counseling for development and maintenance of healthy behaviors. This paper reports on the change in health profiles for over 90 traits, measured in 382 participants over three visits in the 12 months following enrolment. Significant changes in the desired direction of improved health are observed for many traits related to cardiovascular health, including BMI, blood pressure, cholesterol, and arterial stiffness, as well as for summary measures of physical and mental health. The changes are most notable for individuals in the upper quartile of baseline risk, many of whom showed a positive correlated response across clinical categories. By contrast, individuals who start with more healthy profiles do not generally show significant improvements and only a modest impact of targeting specific health attributes was observed. Overall, the CHDWB model shows promise as an effective intervention particularly for individuals at high risk for cardiovascular disease.