Abstract 18933: Partners Together in Health (PaTH) Intervention to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk

Abstract

Despite proven efficacy of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in initiating lifestyle changes, less than 50% of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patients maintain changes 6 month later. The objective of this feasibility study was to test the Partners Together in Health (PaTH) Intervention versus usual care in improving physical activity and healthy eating behaviors in CABG patients and spouses. We used an experimental, two-group (n=17 couples/group), repeated measures design. CABG patients in both groups participated in CR. Spouses in the PaTH group attended CR with the patient and made the same healthy eating and physical activity changes as patients. Spouses in the control group attended educational classes with the patient which is the standard of care in CR. It was hypothesized that “two persons would be better than one" at making changes and sticking with them long-term. Eating behavior was measured using 3-day food records. Physical activity was measured using the Actiheart accelerometer. Data were collected at baseline (entrance in CR), 3-months (post-CR), and 6-months. Although healthy eating was similar between patient groups at the end of CR, by 6 months, there was a trend (p<.10) for patients in the PaTH group to report better eating behavior than the control group on 3 dietary components: % fat calories (26.4% vs. 32.4%), % saturated fat calories (8.1% vs. 11.1%), and cholesterol (209.8 mg vs. 233.8 mg), respectively. Similar findings were obtained for PaTH vs. control spouses at 6-months: % fat calories (30.6% vs. 36.7%), % saturated fat calories (9.4% vs. 11.3%), and cholesterol (204.7 mg vs. 260.8 mg), respectively. No differences were found between patient groups at 3 or 6-months in the # of minutes/week of physical activity. Although patients were above the national guidelines for PA recommendations (>150 min/week at >3 METs) at 3- and 6-months, they were only participating in 162 min/week (PaTH group) vs. 182 min/week (control group) at 6-months. In contrast, spouses were engaged in approximately twice as much weekly physical activity as patients: 300 min/week (PaTH group) vs. 257.6 min/week (control group) at 6 months. Long-term maintenance of lifestyle changes is essential to positively influence health outcomes for both patients and spouses.