DASH program may be tied to reduced health costs in people at risk, study suggests

An online program designed to foster better diet and exercise habits may be linked to lower health costs in people at risk for certain health problems, a Boston study suggests.

Researchers led by Dr. Thomas Moore of Boston University School of Medicine were testing the effects of DASH for Health, a Web-based nutrition and exercise program offered as an employee benefit at computer company EMC, Boston Medical Center, and pharmacy chain CVS Caremark. A new study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research tracked employees and their family members at EMC to see whether medical costs were different for people enrolled in the program compared to people who didn't participate.

The online program gives advice to individuals on nutrition and exercise based on their age, gender, diet, blood pressure, and weight. Users can see progress toward goals they may have and receive general health information weekly. For the study, the researchers logged medical expenses from insurance claims for 12 months before and after EMC employees and their spouses began using the DASH program.

After one year, overall medical costs for the 1,967 people in the program had not changed significantly from the previous year, compared to costs over the same two years for the more than 15,000 people who did not participate. But among the 735 participants who had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes, costs were $827 lower per person on average than the year before they entered the program.

When the researchers tried to account for differences between participants and non-participants to see if something other than the program might explain the lower medical costs, they found that the results had borderline significance, meaning they were close to what could have occurred by chance. But the authors said other evidence suggests that the program may be responsible for the cost difference: People with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes who used the site more than nine times a year had annual costs that dropped $55 with each additional visit to the site.

"We already know from previous studies we have done that [after one year] people lose weight, lower their blood pressure, and improve their eating habits," Moore said in an interview. "But this study says that not only do they do all of that, but for people who have medical conditions where you think that improving diet would be very helpful -- like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes -- they can also reduce the amount of money they spend on their health care."

Moore is chairman of e-Havior Change, the company that owns the copyright to the DASH for Health program.