The effect of a corporate wellness programme in reducing selected modifiable coronary artery disease risk factors in men

M.A.Chronic degenerative disease is responsible for a high percentage of deaths in industrialised westernised communities. These findings are not surprising if viewed in the light that most people consider physical activity not to be a priority in their daily activities. During the last decade, it would seem that employers have realised that the health status of an employee can have a direct influence on productivity, efficiency and absenteeism in the working environment. In an attempt to lower health-related costs, reduce absenteeism and improve productivity, some employers have started implementing a variation of total wellbeing and workers’ support programmes as part of their employee assistance programmes. A pressing question is, however, how effective these wellness programmes are. In order to evaluate the effect of such a programme, the present study used a sample of 76 employees in middle- to top management at a big corporate company. During 2002, tests were performed on twelve CAD risk factors, after which an intervention programme was introduced. Twelve months later (2003), the first intermediate test was conducted, using the same protocol. The second intermediate test followed in 2004, duplicating the procedures. The post-test and data analysing were conducted four years after the first evaluations. Subjects were monitored for changes in: total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDLcholesterol, triglycerides, TC/HDL ratio, LDL/HDL ratio, fasting blood glucose, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, body mass index, waist-to-hipratio and waist circumference. The Repeated Measures General Linear Model Test was used to determine significance (P ≤ 0.05) from pre- to post-test. A novel CAD risk score was also iv developed from peer-reviewed literature by considering each of the 12 CAD risk factors measured. The results demonstrated that the wellness programme decreased CAD risk by 26% amongst the 76 participants in this study. The TC, LDL-C, LDL/HDL-C ratio, TC/HDL-C ratio, fasting blood glucose, resting systolic blood pressure, resting diastolic blood pressure and waist-to-hip ratio improved significantly, while triglycerides showed a non-significant improvement. The three CAD risk factors that deteriorated significantly during the study period were high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, BMI and waist circumference. The major finding of this investigation thus suggests that a corporate wellness programme has long-term beneficial effects on CAD risk and that the reduction in CAD risk is mainly attributed to the beneficial effects of regular exercise