Incidence and Reasons for Medical Referral in a Worksite Health Promotion Program

The purpose of this study was to examine incidence and reasons for medical referral as a result of screening performed in a worksite health promotion program. Screening consisted of a medical history questionnaire, blood lipid profile, a sub-maximal treadmill stress test to 85% of age-predicted maximal heart rate, and other fitness measures. Overall, 11.5% of participants were referred to their personal physician for medical reasons following testing. Males (rate = 23.3%) were significantly more likely to be referred than females (rate = 8.8%). No significant difference was found in the percent of male (89.3%) or female (78.5%) referrals who were subsequently cleared to actively participate in the worksite program by their personal physician. These findings have important practical applications for worksite health promotion programs that conduct health screening.