Source: JAMA Author:  Larry Chapman The health of the US population is a matter of great importance to our national future.  Few analyses document the patterns, as well as this particular article, does.  This state by state analysis covers the years 1990 through 2016 and includes: Prevalence, incidence, mortality, life expectancy, healthy life expectancy (HALE),… Continue Reading ›

Author:  Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) The field of public health, over the past decade, has been developing and refining a perspective and technical approach to bring a health orientation to what is called the “built-environment.”  This approach encompasses all man-made environments and how we use them and specifically, public health research has… Continue Reading ›

Author:  Sarah Turk, IBISWorld What services constitute the corporate wellness industry?  How big is our industry in financial terms?  How many are corporate wellness services vendors out there?  These are just a few of the answers you will find in this edition of the Connections newsletter. Why is this important? This 34-page report provides a… Continue Reading ›

Author:  Larry Chapman Why is this important? This short, 4-page interview is important because it includes some great wisdom from the physician’s perspective about how to help patients (aka “employees”) get on the wellness bus. It includes practical tips for anyone advising anybody about succeeding on their wellness journey. Fast, pithy and practical read. The… Continue Reading ›

Author: Larry Chapman Think about that employee of yours that this year will receive a diagnosis with the “C” word.  Pretty chilling huh!  Even with the steady improvements in cancer incidence and survivability, it is still a primary health concern for a major portion of your employees.  The American Cancer Society (ACS) just released its national cancer estimates… Continue Reading ›

Author: Larry Chapman The CDC Worksite Health ScoreCard (HSC) is a tool designed to help employers assess whether they have implemented evidence-based worksite health promotion and wellness interventions or strategies in their worksites to prevent heart disease, stroke, and related conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. The tool was developed by the CDC Division… Continue Reading ›

Author: Larry Chapman The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) is the authoritative group that provides guidance to health professionals that serve and care for employee populations in work organizations.  This guidance statement provides a consensus among occupational health professionals about the impact, outcomes to be expected and recommendations for dealing with obesity… Continue Reading ›

Author: Larry Chapman The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is an independent body of experts who make evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services using a transparent and objective process. Developing recommendations on a clinical preventive service requires evidence of its effect on health outcomes. Health outcomes are symptoms, functional levels, and conditions that affect… Continue Reading ›

Author: Larry Chapman Introduction: There is little research at the national level on access to employee wellness programs and the use of preventive care services. This study examined the use of seven preventive care services among U.S working adults with access to employee wellness programs. Methods: The study population comprised 17,699 working adults aged ≥18… Continue Reading ›

Author: Larry Chapman Introduction: Estimates of obesity prevalence based on current BMI are an important, but incomplete indicator of the total effects of obesity on a population. Methods: In this study, data on current BMI and maximum BMI were used to estimate prevalence and trends in lifetime obesity status, defined using the categories never (maximum… Continue Reading ›