Effectiveness of Lifestyle Physical Activity Interventions to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease Published by:

Abstract: Lifestyle interventions have evolved from proof-of-concept pilot studies to efficacy and effectiveness studies and have now moved toward translation and dissemination studies because of their demonstrated ability to improve cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes. When combined with diet, they also have demonstrated the ability to normalize blood glucose levels and help to regulate weight. This review highlights the converging lines of evi-dence that led to lifestyle physical activ-ity interventions, beginning with early epidemiology studies, and provides evi-dence for the efficacy and effectiveness of lifestyle interventions. However, if lifestyle interventions are to play a role in preventing CVD and improving CVD outcomes, their use must be more wide-spread. This will require translational and dissemination research to under-stand how to move into real-world settings. Successful examples of transla-tional studies will be highlighted, and issues related to theoretical and prac-tical issues as well as capacity build-ing will be discussed. Building bridges between research and practice must be done if lifestyle interventions are to deliver on their public health promise