Health Central reports on new research that shows healthy lifestyle changes such as improving diet and increasing exercise can reduce surgical risk factors.

A recent study from HSS, published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, found that a lifestyle medicine program was highly effective for improving the health of and reducing risk factors for people preparing to undergo elective orthopedic surgeries.

The study enrolled 54 people, almost 90% of whom had two or more lifestyle-related chronic diseases and a mean BMI of 43.2, which the CDC considers class 3 or severe obesity. “There were two groups of patients sent to the lifestyle medicine program by their surgeons,” said physiatrist Heidi Prather, D.O., physiatrist and the founder and medical director of the HSS Lifestyle Medicine Program and the lead author on the study. “One group implemented changes to improve health in time for a surgical date that had been set months in advance. The second group had significant health risks that needed to be mitigated before considering a surgical date.”

The intervention was a 13-week online program focused around the six pillars of health in lifestyle medicine, which includes eating mostly whole food, plant-based nutrition; engaging in physical activity; stress management; avoiding tobacco and alcohol; prioritizing restorative sleep; and making social connections.

“Patients received one-on-one services with team members and had options to attend group programing that focused on each of the six pillars of health,” explained Dr. Prather. “The services the patient received were dependent on their own specific goals and therefore no two programs were exactly alike.”

By the end of the program, nearly all the participants (96%) had successfully achieved their goals for improving health and reducing surgical risks; 78% reported decreases in weight and BMI, averaging 11 pounds and a BMI reduction of 1.8. Of the 41 people who had a surgery date set, 38 went on to have the surgery, while 11 of the 13 who were not able to schedule their surgery before completing the program went on to have their elective orthopedic surgery.

Read the full article at healthcentral.com.