T HE IMPACT OF ATTENDING THE C ROÍ M Y A CTION CVD PREVENTION PROGRAMME WITH A PARTNER ON D IET AND A NTHROPOMETRICS Katie Cunningham

B ACKGROUND CVD is the leading cause of death in Ireland and globally (Central Statistics Office, 2009; WHO, 2012) Croí MyAction is an holistic community-based CVD prevention referral programme for high risk individuals Proven effective model for reducing the future CVD risk of high-risk individuals (Gibson et al., 2013) Patients are encouraged to invite a partner to attend the 12 week programme

A IM This study aimed to establish if participating with a partner (spouse, relative or friend) in Croí MyAction enabled patients to improve their Mediterranean diet score, reduce their BMI and waist circumference more than if a patient attends the programme alone

M ETHODS Patients and partners had an individualised assessment with the nurse, physiotherapist and dietitian at 3 time points: Baseline - initial assessment 12 weeks - end of programme assessment 1 year - one year assessment The data that took the focus of this research included: Demographics Mediterranean diet score BMI and waist circumference

M EDITERRANEAN D IET S CORE Mediterranean ComponentYesNo Is olive oil used as main culinary fat? Are ≥ 4 tablespoons of olive oil used each day? Are ≥ 2 servings of vegetables eaten each day? (1 serving = 200g) Are ≥ 3 servings of fruits (including fruit juice) eaten each day? Is < 1 serving ( g) of red meat / hamburgers / meat products eaten each day? Is < 1 serving of butter, margarine or cream consumed each day? (1 serving = 12g) Is < 1 serving of sweet or carbonated beverages consumed each day? Are ≥ 3 glasses of wine consumed each week? Are ≥ 3 servings of legumes consumed each week? (1 serving = 150g) Are ≥ 3 servings of fish (1 serving = g) or shellfish (1 serving = 200g) consumed each week? Are < 3 servings of commercial sweets / pastries / biscuits consumed each week? Is ≥ 1 serving of nuts consumed each week? (1 serving = 30g) Is chicken, turkey or rabbit meat eaten instead of veal, pork, hamburger or sausage? Are dishes made from pasta, rice, vegetables or other dishes flavoured with tomato, onion, leek or garlic and olive oil ≥ twice a week? Total number of YES ticked equals Mediterranean Diet Score (Schröder et al., 2011)

D ATA PREPARATION & A NALYSIS Data preparation Variables not relevant to the research were deleted Data was imported from Microsoft Excel into SPSS Coded data Cleaned data Created new variables Data analysis Descriptive frequencies Pearson Chi-square test Independent t-test ANOVA

K EY R ESULTS - A TTENDERS Between June 2009 – July people joined the programme Initial assessment 260 patients attended alone, 340 attended with a partner End of programme assessment 136 patients attended alone, 259 attended with a partner 1 year assessment 91 patients attended alone, 194 attended with a partner

K EY R ESULTS - D EMOGRAPHICS Older people were significantly more likely to attend the programme with a partner The majority of patients attended Croí MyAction with their spouse/partner or alone Females were more likely to attend with a family member or friend compared to males Females were significantly more likely to accompany the patient on the programme when compared to males

K EY R ESULTS – M EDITERRANEAN D IET S CORE Mediterranean diet score improved significantly from baseline to end of programme and improved again at 1 YR for both males and females At the end of programme females improved their Mediterranean diet score more if they attended with a spouse/partner Vs a family member At the end of programme males improved their Mediterranean diet score to a similar degree when they attended alone, with a spouse/partner, family member or friend At 1 year all patients had improved their Mediterranean diet score to a similar degree despite attending alone, with a spouse/partner, family member or friend

K EY R ESULTS - A NTHROPOMETRICS At the end of programme both male and female patients significantly reduced their mean BMI and waist circumference At 1 year this reduction in BMI and waist circumference was maintained There was no significant change in BMI or waist circumference from at end of programme or at 1 year in female or male patients who attended alone, with spouse/partner, family member or friend

C ONCLUSION Improvements were made to both diet and anthropmetrics Not enough evidence to suggest that having a partner attend the programme was a primary cause for this change Some people may benefit from having support Having support may benefit other parameters that were not investigated in this study More high risk CVD prevention strategies are needed in Ireland

A CKNOWLEDGMENTS Dr Colette Kelly Department of Health Promotion, NUI Galway Croí Heart & Stroke Charity

R EFERENCES Central Statistics Office. (2009). Annual report on vital statistics. Dublin: CSO. Gibson, I., Flaherty, G., Cormican, S., Jones, J., Kerins, C. Walsh, A. M., et al. (2013) Translating guidelines to practice: findings from a multidisciplinary preventive cardiology programme in the west of Ireland. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. Perk, J., De Backer, G. Gohlke, H., Graham, I., Reiner, Z., Verschuren, M. M. W., et al (2012). European Guidelines on cardiovascular disease prevention in clinical practice (version 2012). The Fifth Joint Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology and Other Societies on Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Clinical Practice. European Heart Journal, 33, Schröder, H., Fitó, M., Estruch, R., Martínez-Gonzáles, M. A., Corella, D., Salas- Salvadó, J., et al. (2011). A short screener is valid for assessing Mediterranean diet adherence among older Spanish men and women. Journal of Nutrition, 141 (6), World Health Organization (WHO). (2012). World health statistics France: WHO.