Frequent health risk appraisal can improve employee health status
Effect of health risk appraisal frequency on change in health status. Pai CW, Hagen SE, Bender J, Shoemaker D, Edington DW. J Occup Environ Med. 2009. 51(4): 429-34.
Aim
To examine the association between employees' repeated participation in health risk appraisals (HRA) and changes in their health status.
Looked at
Data were taken from 3,384 employees who completed a HRA between 1997 to 2004. Most of the employees worked in manufacturing and were male (83%) with an average age of 50 years.
How?
An HRA was offered to the employees that assessed a range of health risks including: alcohol use, blood pressure, body weight, cholesterol, cigarette smoking, health perception, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, illness days, life satisfaction, major medical conditions, physical activity, safety belt use and stress. The number of times an individual took a HRA was monitored and compared against any change in their health status. Employees' health risks were assessed from the HRA data and classified as either low, medium or high. A group who were identified as taking the assessment 3-5 times were classified as 'repeat HRAs', compared to those who took it 1-2 times.
Results
- Employees who took the HRA more than once were more likely to have a beneficial change in health status.
- Repeat HRA employees had an 8.5% increase in the low-risk group compared with a 3.2% increase for the one-time HRA employees.
- 41.4% of employees in the HRA repeat group improved their status and 26% got worse compared with 38.1% in the one-time group improving their status and 31% getting worse.
What does this mean?
Repeatedly taking health risk assessments can help provide employees with continued engagement in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.