Impact of a Wellness Clinic Visit on Cardiovascular Risk Biomarkers in Employees of a VA Medical Center

Background: Worksite screening programs are increasingly being provided by employers as a means to reduce cardiovascular risk in employees. A screening program that consists of fasting serum analysis of glucose plus a lipid panel is offered yearly to employees at the VA medical center in Tampa. A retrospective study was conducted to determine if a wellness clinic exposure resulted in significant changes in employees\u27 markers of cardiovascular risk. Methods: Computerized records were used to follow serial outcomes for glucose, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol in employees whose screening results showed abnormal levels of one or more of these markers. An intervention group with 66 subjects received a wellness clinic visit including a health risk assessment and education for lifestyle change, and a reference group with 109 subjects received only serum analysis. Outcomes at repeat screening were compared for the two groups. Results: Both groups showed improvement in cardiovascular risk. In the intervention group there was significant intra-subject improvement from baseline for all markers except glucose. For triglycerides and LDL cholesterol there was a significantly greater proportion of subjects who improved in the intervention group. In addition, the improvement for triglycerides was significantly better in the intervention group. Conclusions: This investigation confirms the value of a worksite wellness program in reducing cardiovascular risk in the population studied. A differential impact of age and gender was seen for glucose and triglycerides and indicates that such modifiers should be considered through covariate analysis in assessing wellness program effectiveness. Increasing levels of employee wellness participation to targets identified in this study and adding a health risk assessment for everyone screened will help to identify the specific benefits of the face to face wellness counseling intervention