Regaining Productivity: Lifestyle Program Conducted by Registered Dietitians Can Reduce Work Loss and Disability Days

FOR RELEASE FEBRUARY 19, 2009

Media contact: Jennifer Starkey
800/877-1600, ext. 4802
media@eatright.org

CHICAGO – A new study partially funded by the American Dietetic Association shows medical nutrition therapy provided by a registered dietitian can substantially reduce work loss and disability days for people with diabetes and obesity.

Results of the “Improving Control with Activity and Nutrition” study, or ICAN, conducted by a group led by registered dietitian Anne Wolf, MS, RD, instructor of research at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, were published in the February issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Previous research studies have shown that medical nutrition therapy provided by registered dietitians as part of a person’s health-care team is effective in treatment and prevention of nutrition-related diseases and conditions. Patients receiving medical nutrition therapy, or MNT, have been shown to have fewer complications, fewer hospitalizations and lower health-care costs.

This study indicates “a modest-cost lifestyle intervention” led by a registered dietitian can decrease health-related lost productivity by 64.3 percent and disability days by 87.2 percent compared to usual medical care, “providing further support for lifestyle intervention programs for people with diabetes and obesity,” according to the researchers. In 2007, the researchers write, people with diabetes lost 15 million days of work due to diabetes, costing the U.S. economy about $2.6 billion. “In 1994, there were 239 million excess restricted activity days and 89.5 million excess bed days attributable to obesity.”

The study involved 147 people who were obese and had type-2 diabetes. Half the participants were given “usual medical care” that did not include lifestyle intervention; they lost an average of nearly 3.5 work days per year. The group that received lifestyle intervention lost an average of less than one day per year. In addition, the study found the usual care group reported an average of 5.3 disability and physical limitation days per year versus less than one day for the lifestyle intervention group.

“On an individual basis, this may not seem like a lot of days lost,” Wolf said. “But for a large employer, this adds up. For every 100 employees with diabetes, the employer loses nearly 250 days of work and 435 days with disability and physical limitations per year. These lost days could be prevented with the addition of a lifestyle intervention by a registered dietitian to usual medical care.”

The net cost of the year-long program was $328 per person. The researchers calculate that for every dollar an employer invests in the lifestyle modification program for employees with diabetes, the employer would see a return of $2.67 in productivity.

The researchers conclude: “Evidence-based and cost-effective interventions can help stem the tide of obesity and diabetes. While lifestyle intervention is the cornerstone treatment for diabetes and obesity, access to providers of lifestyle care is severely limited by lack of reimbursement. Given the growing costs of both diabetes and obesity and the substantial burden to employers, a modest cost, evidence-based lifestyle intervention program which may reduce disability and work days lost should be a welcome addition to usual medical care.”

The American Dietetic Association is the world’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. ADA is committed to improving the nation’s health and advancing the profession of dietetics through research, education and advocacy. Visit the American Dietetic Association at www.eatright.org.

###