scholarly journals Improving Heart Disease Risk Through Quality-Focused Diet Logging: Pre-Post Study of a Diet Quality Tracking App

10.2196/21733 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. e21733
Author(s):  
Bum Chul Kwon ◽  
Courtland VanDam ◽  
Stephanie E Chiuve ◽  
Hyung Wook Choi ◽  
Paul Entler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
Blood Sugar ◽  
Diet Quality ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Risk Scores ◽  
Disease Risks ◽  
Heart Disease Risk ◽  
Mhealth Apps

Background Diet-tracking mobile apps have gained increased interest from both academic and clinical fields. However, quantity-focused diet tracking (eg, calorie counting) can be time-consuming and tedious, leading to unsustained adoption. Diet quality—focusing on high-quality dietary patterns rather than quantifying diet into calories—has shown effectiveness in improving heart disease risk. The Healthy Heart Score (HHS) predicts 20-year cardiovascular risks based on the consumption of foods from quality-focused food categories, rather than detailed serving sizes. No studies have examined how mobile health (mHealth) apps focusing on diet quality can bring promising results in health outcomes and ease of adoption. Objective This study aims to design a mobile app to support the HHS-informed quality-focused dietary approach by enabling users to log simplified diet quality and view its real-time impact on future heart disease risks. Users were asked to log food categories that are the main predictors of the HHS. We measured the app’s feasibility and efficacy in improving individuals’ clinical and behavioral factors that affect future heart disease risks and app use. Methods We recruited 38 participants who were overweight or obese with high heart disease risk and who used the app for 5 weeks and measured weight, blood sugar, blood pressure, HHS, and diet score (DS)—the measurement for diet quality—at baseline and week 5 of the intervention. Results Most participants (30/38, 79%) used the app every week and showed significant improvements in DS (baseline: mean 1.31, SD 1.14; week 5: mean 2.36, SD 2.48; 2-tailed t test t29=−2.85; P=.008) and HHS (baseline: mean 22.94, SD 18.86; week 4: mean 22.15, SD 18.58; t29=2.41; P=.02) at week 5, although only 10 participants (10/38, 26%) checked their HHS risk scores more than once. Other outcomes, including weight, blood sugar, and blood pressure, did not show significant changes. Conclusions Our study showed that our logging tool significantly improved dietary choices. Participants were not interested in seeing the HHS and perceived logging diet categories irrelevant to improving the HHS as important. We discuss the complexities of addressing health risks and quantity- versus quality-based health monitoring and incorporating secondary behavior change goals that matter to users when designing mHealth apps.

scholarly journals Improving Heart Disease Risk Through Quality-Focused Diet Logging: Pre-Post Study of a Diet Quality Tracking App (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bum Chul Kwon ◽  
Courtland VanDam ◽  
Stephanie E Chiuve ◽  
Hyung Wook Choi ◽  
Paul Entler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
Blood Sugar ◽  
Diet Quality ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Risk Scores ◽  
Disease Risks ◽  
Heart Disease Risk ◽  
Mhealth Apps

BACKGROUND Diet-tracking mobile apps have gained increased interest from both academic and clinical fields. However, quantity-focused diet tracking (eg, calorie counting) can be time-consuming and tedious, leading to unsustained adoption. Diet quality—focusing on high-quality dietary patterns rather than quantifying diet into calories—has shown effectiveness in improving heart disease risk. The Healthy Heart Score (HHS) predicts 20-year cardiovascular risks based on the consumption of foods from quality-focused food categories, rather than detailed serving sizes. No studies have examined how mobile health (mHealth) apps focusing on diet quality can bring promising results in health outcomes and ease of adoption. OBJECTIVE This study aims to design a mobile app to support the HHS-informed quality-focused dietary approach by enabling users to log simplified diet quality and view its real-time impact on future heart disease risks. Users were asked to log food categories that are the main predictors of the HHS. We measured the app’s feasibility and efficacy in improving individuals’ clinical and behavioral factors that affect future heart disease risks and app use. METHODS We recruited 38 participants who were overweight or obese with high heart disease risk and who used the app for 5 weeks and measured weight, blood sugar, blood pressure, HHS, and diet score (DS)—the measurement for diet quality—at baseline and week 5 of the intervention. RESULTS Most participants (30/38, 79%) used the app every week and showed significant improvements in DS (baseline: mean 1.31, SD 1.14; week 5: mean 2.36, SD 2.48; 2-tailed <i>t</i> test <i>t</i><sub>29</sub>=−2.85; <i>P</i>=.008) and HHS (baseline: mean 22.94, SD 18.86; week 4: mean 22.15, SD 18.58; <i>t</i><sub>29</sub>=2.41; <i>P</i>=.02) at week 5, although only 10 participants (10/38, 26%) checked their HHS risk scores more than once. Other outcomes, including weight, blood sugar, and blood pressure, did not show significant changes. CONCLUSIONS Our study showed that our logging tool significantly improved dietary choices. Participants were not interested in seeing the HHS and perceived logging diet categories irrelevant to improving the HHS as important. We discuss the complexities of addressing health risks and quantity- versus quality-based health monitoring and incorporating secondary behavior change goals that matter to users when designing mHealth apps.

scholarly journals Improving Heart disease risk through quality-focused diet logging: pre-post study of a diet quality tracking app

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtland VanDam ◽  
Bum Chul Kwon ◽  
Stephanie Chiuve ◽  
Hyung-Wook Choi ◽  
Paul Entler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Disease ◽  
Behavior Change ◽  
Mobile Health ◽  
Diet Quality ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Risk Scores ◽  
Cardiovascular Risks ◽  
Disease Risks ◽  
Heart Disease Risk

AbstractDiet-tracking mobile apps have been effective in behavior change. At the same time, quantity-focused diet tracking (e.g., calorie counting) can be time-consuming and tedious, leading to unsustained adoption. Diet Quality—focusing on high-quality dietary patterns rather than quantifying diet into calories—has shown effectiveness in improving heart disease risk. Healthy Heart Score (HHS) predicts 20-year cardiovascular risks based on quality-focused food category consumptions, rather than detailed serving sizes. No studies have examined how mobile health apps focusing on diet quality can bring promising results on health outcomes and ease of adoption. We designed a mobile app to support the HHS informed quality-focused dietary approach by enabling users to log simplified diet quality and view its real-time impact on future heart disease risks. Users were asked to log food categories that are the main predictors of HHS. We measured the app’s feasibility and efficacy on improving individuals’ clinical and behavioral factors affecting future heart disease risks and app use. We recruited 38 overweight or obese participants at high heart disease risk, who used the app for 5 weeks and measured weight, blood sugar, and blood pressure, HHS, and Diet Score (DS) measuring diet quality at baseline and the fifth week of the intervention. The majority used the application every week (84%) and significantly improved DS and HHS at the fifth week (p<0.05), although only 10 participants (31%) checked their risk scores more than once. Other outcomes did not show significant changes. Our study showed logging simplified diet quality significantly improved dietary behavior. The participants were not interested in seeing HHS, and the participants perceived logging diet categories irrelevant to improving HHS as important. We discuss the complexities of addressing health risks, quantity vs. quality-based health monitoring, and incorporating secondary behavior change goals that matter to users when designing mobile health.

scholarly journals Predicted Coronary Heart Disease Risk Reduction and Dual Blood Pressure/Cholesterol Goal Attainment in Patients With Hypertension Treated in Real-World Clinical Practice

2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 396-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel M. Neutel ◽  
Michael Eaddy ◽  
Orsolya E. Lunacsek ◽  
Craig Roberts ◽  
Linda Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Coronary Heart Disease ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Coronary Heart Disease Risk ◽  
Real World ◽  
Goal Attainment ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Cholesterol Goal ◽  
Heart Disease Risk

scholarly journals Amlodipine Reduces Predicted Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in High-Risk Patients with Hypertension in Spain (The CORONARIA Study)

2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 1399-1417
Author(s):  
J Zamorano ◽  
L Rodriguez Padial ◽  
J Cosín ◽  
A Hernandiz ◽  
JL Gutierrez-Chico ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Coronary Heart Disease ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Coronary Heart Disease Risk ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Antihypertensive Agents ◽  
Blood Pressure Target ◽  
Open Label ◽  
Heart Disease Risk

We evaluated the efficacy and safety of amlodipine besylate alone or in combination with other antihypertensive agents in high-risk hypertensive patients in Spanish primary care. In this 1-year, open-label, prospective cohort study, 7468 patients were treated with amlodipine 5–10 mg as a monotherapy or as an add-on therapy to attain blood pressure control (target of < 140/90 mmHg or, in patients with conditions such as diabetes or chronic kidney disease, < 130/85 mmHg). At 12 months, the primary outcome (change from baseline in predicted 10-year coronary heart disease risk) was −8.6%, down from 24.7% at baseline (relative risk reduction, 31.6%). Change in blood pressure from baseline (162.5/95.3 mmHg) was −26.7/-14.6 mmHg, and 38.6% of patients achieved their blood pressure target. In summary, significant reductions in predicted coronary heart disease risk and blood pressure were observed with amlodipine both as a monotherapy and as an add-on therapy. Amlodipine was well tolerated and compliance with treatment was good.

scholarly journals Correlation between body fat components and coronary heart disease risk scores

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 179
Author(s):  
Ram S Kaulgud ◽  
Guruprasad V Deshpande ◽  
Vasantha Kamath ◽  
Rajeev R Joshi ◽  
Mallikarjuna Swamy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coronary Heart Disease ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
Body Fat ◽  
Coronary Heart Disease Risk ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Risk Scores ◽  
Heart Disease Risk

scholarly journals Aggressive Blood Pressure Control Increases Coronary Heart Disease Risk Among Diabetic Patients

Diabetes Care ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 36 (10) ◽  
pp. 3287-3296 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Zhao ◽  
P. T. Katzmarzyk ◽  
R. Horswell ◽  
Y. Wang ◽  
W. Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Coronary Heart Disease ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
Blood Pressure Control ◽  
Coronary Heart Disease Risk ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Pressure Control ◽  
Diabetic Patients ◽  
Heart Disease Risk

scholarly journals Arginine intake, blood pressure, and the incidence of acute coronary events in men: the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study

2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgitta Venho ◽  
Sari Voutilainen ◽  
Veli-Pekka Valkonen ◽  
Jyrki Virtanen ◽  
Timo A Lakka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Risk Factor ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
Ischaemic Heart Disease ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Disease Risk Factor ◽  
Risk Factor Study ◽  
Factor Study ◽  
Coronary Events ◽  
Heart Disease Risk
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