The Disease/Condition
This essay focuses on a study done by Luepker et al. in the year 1994. The study was entitled Community Education for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention: Risk Factor Changes in the Minnesota Heart Health Program. Specifically, the study focussed on the efficacy of the Minnesota Heart Health Program in reducing incidents of cardiovascular diseases in Minnesota. The public intervention program was carried out after it became evident that cardiovascular diseases, particularly coronary heart diseases, were on the rise in most developed nations, including the United States (Luepker et al., 1994, p.1383). One of the government initiatives developed to counter the rising prevalence of cardiovascular diseases was to carry out public health intervention programs targeted at specific communities.
Biostatics and Epidemiology
Cross-sectional surveys and cohort surveys were used to follow up the three community pairs targeted by the intervention. Specific indicators assessed by the researchers included blood cholesterol level, exposure to risk reduction activities, prevalence of smoking, blood pressure, physical activity, body mass index and incidents of coronary heart disease. Body mass index was determined after taking the height and weight of the participants while blood pressure was determined after taking the “systolic and fifth-phase diastolic pressure” (Luepker et al., 1994, p.1384) after a five-minute rest. The level of physical activity was determined by taking the percentage of the respondents who answered in the affirmative when asked whether they took part in regular physical activity. Exposure to risk reduction activities was determined by asking the participants whether they had taken part in campaigns aimed at reducing the exposure to factors that exacerbate cardiovascular diseases. Lastly, the prevalence of smoking was determined by classifying smokers and non-smokers.
Main Independent and Dependent Variables
The study had many independent and dependent variables. The main independent variables included time and exposure to risk reduction activities. The main dependent variables included blood pressure, smoking prevalence, the level of physical exercise, the body mass index, the level of blood cholesterol and incidents of cardiovascular diseases.
Statistical Tests
For each of the main dependent variables, a comparison was made between the study sample and another control sample that had not benefited from the Minnesota Heart Health Program. The p-value was taken as 0.05, which translated into 95% confidence level. The hypothesis was that giving the people of Minnesota information about the risks associated with cardiovascular diseases would lead to a reduction in the morbidity and mortality arising out of cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, the main aim of the study was to determine whether the participants that had been exposed to education on cardiovascular diseases had made significant changes in their lifestyles, which translated to reduced smoking prevalence, increased regular physical activity during leisure time, reduced blood pressure levels, healthy body mass indices and reduced deaths resulting from cardiovascular diseases.
Importance of Study Results
The results showed that many indicators improved with the intervention. For example, smoking prevalence reduced and regular physical activity during leisure improved with time. However, at the same time, the control sample showed signs of improved too, which made the improvements made by the study sample look modest. That does not mean that the program was ineffective. It only means that it is “easier to change the risk profiles of people” (Luepker et al., 1994, p.1392) participating in such programs as compared to changing the risk profiles of a large fraction of the community.
Reference
Luepker, R., Murray, D., Jacobs, D., Mittelmark, M., Bracht, N., & Carlaw, R. et al. (1994).
Community education for cardiovascular disease prevention: Risk factor changes in the Minnesota Heart Health Program. Am J Public Health, 84(9), 1383-1393. http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/ajph.84.9.1383
