Health Risk Assessment - Reply

• Health Risk Assessment by Danny van Leeuwen, 3/7/97
  
  

From my reading of the literature, many health care organizations are now targeting particular diseases in their prevention efforts. Asthma and cardiovascular disease spring immediately to mind. I have been involved in Hartford Hospital's effort to establish a risk assessment and intervention program aimed at risk for CVD. Briefly, the assessment screens for the following risk factors: HDL/Total Chol ratio, BMI over the standard limits, anxiety, depression, blood pressure, smoking and sedentary lifestyle. The interventions are primarily group modalities and include stress, smoking and diet/exercise groups. We are just piloting the groups so I can't really report on outcomes yet. Elsewhere in the hospital, there is a large scale secondary prevention program for asthma in place, designed to reduce the risk for emergency room visits. Most interventions for secondary prevention are usually aimed at outpatients. I run a smoking cessation program for cardiac inpatients. In the assessment process we also screen for psychological risk factors and refer accordingly.

Steve Locke is clearly the better person to comment in this area. He is one of the pioneers in initiating secondary prevention programs in his work at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.

As your time permits, please write more about your interest and work so we can keep the dialogue going.

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