November - 3 - 2009
The Web-based nutrition and exercise program DASH for Health may help lower health costs for people with certain risks, according to a study of nearly 2,000 people using the program. Several companies offered the program as an employee benefit, providing nutrition and exercise guidelines based on age, gender, diet, blood pressure, and weight. After one year, overall medical costs did not change significantly compared to medical costs for the 15,000 study subjects who did not participate in the DASH program. However, costs were lowered by about $827 per person for the 735 DASH participants who had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes. The participants with these conditions used the program more than nine times a year, with medical costs falling by about $55 for each additional visit to the program's Web site. The study results are published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.