Impact of lifestyle intervention on lost productivity and disability: improving control with activity and nutrition.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effectiveness of a lifestyle intervention (LI) in reducing work loss and disability days.


METHODS
One year randomized controlled trial of health plan members (n = 147) with type 2 diabetes and obesity. Members were randomized to modest-cost LI or usual care (UC). Outcomes were group differences in cumulative days either missed at work or with disability using Mann-Whitney U-tests and Poisson regression models.


RESULTS
LI reduced the risk of workdays lost by 64.3% (P <or= 0.001) compared to UC (annual accumulation: UC: 3.49 days vs LI: 0.92 days, P = 0.01). LI decreased the risk of disability days by 87.2% (P = 0.0003) compared to UC (annual accumulation: UC: 5.3 days vs LI: 0.94 days, P <or= 0.001). Similar trends were observed among the subset of people with depression.


CONCLUSIONS
LIs reduce work loss and disability days associated with diabetes and obesity.
Wolf
Anne M
AM
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA 22908-0717, USA. amw6n@virginia.edu
Siadaty
Mir S
MS
Crowther
Jayne Q
JQ
Nadler
Jerry L
JL
Wagner
Douglas L
DL
Cavalieri
Stephen L
SL
Elward
Kurtis S
KS
Bovbjerg
Viktor E
VE
D000041:Absenteeism; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004526:Efficiency; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D044623:Nutrition Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013997:Time Factors; D014768:Virginia