Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain
A new article published in the peer-reviewed medical journal JAMA Cardiology points to the need for individualized behavioral counseling to help patients change unhealthy lifestyles to prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD), especially for those within marginalized or socioeconomically disadvantaged populations.
The paper’s lead author, Carl “Chip” Lavie, MD, said, “While CVD is the leading cause of death in the US across most races and ethnicities, clinicians shouldn’t take a one-size-fits-all approach for lifestyle counseling.” Dr. Lavie is the Medical Director of Cardiac Prevention and Rehabilitation for Ochsner Health.
In “Improving Behavioral Counseling for Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease,” Lavie, MD, and coauthors Barry A. Franklin, Ph.D. and Keith C. Ferdinand, MD, recognize that the likelihood that patients will adopt a particular lifestyle behavior is governed by a myriad of socioeconomic, attitudinal, and cultural factors. Furthermore, they point to evidence that interventions designed to favorably modify dietary habits or physical activity practices in one population cohort may be less effective in another.
They proposed a series of evidence-based methods for individualized counseling that clinicians can use to identify patients’ unhealthy lifestyle practices and encourage behavioral transformation.
The authors highlight disparities in health care delivery at many levels, noting that black adults have shorter life expectancies, primarily driven by higher CVD mortality rates. Along with counseling, the authors argue that structural changes in health care and tailored community-based interventions are reasonable approaches to halting or reversing significant disparities in morbidity and mortality within certain population subsets.
USPSTF still says individualize decision for diet, exercise advice
More information:
Carl J. Lavie et al, Improving behavioral counseling for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, JAMA Cardiology (2022). DOI: 10.1001/jamacardio.2022.2259
Provided by Ochsner Health System
Citation: Individualized lifestyle counseling is key to heart health, especially for African Americans (August 3, 2022) Retrieved August 8, 2022 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-08- individualized-lifestyle-key-heart-health.html
This document is subject to copyright. Other than any fair dealing for private study or research purposes, no part may be reproduced without written permission. The content is provided for informational purposes only.
Source: medicalxpress.com