Norwegian primary health care: Evaluation of a lifestyle intervention program

Abstract

Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the physiological effects of an outpatient lifestyle intervention program prescribed by Norwegian primary health care for inactive obese people. The program includes exercise and lifestyle modification education. Methods: Inactive obese participants were randomly assigned to either an intervention group (n=18), which received six months of intensive training and health education followed by six months of follow-up once a week, or to a control group (n=17). At baseline, six months and 12 months the participants were tested for anthropometrics, VO2max, blood lipids and blood pressure. Results: Compared to the control group the intervention group reduced waist circumference and fat mass, and increased VO2max by 4.1%, 6.5% and 9.9%, respectively. The difference between the two groups was significant (p<0.05) after six months, but not after 12 months. Conclusions: This small-scale study shows that this multidisciplinary outpatient lifestyle intervention program had beneficial effects on reducing several obesity-related cardiovascular risk factors after six months. However, in the conclusion several adjustments to this and similar programs are suggested to further improve the participants’ outcome and reduce drop-out.

Keywords

• Obese
• waist circumference
• weight loss
• blood pressure
• VO2max
• outpatient
• randomised controlled trial