Impact of lifestyle intervention on lost productivity and disability: improving control with activity and nutrition.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of a lifestyle intervention (LI) in reducing work loss and disability days. METHODS One year randomized controlled trial of health plan members (n = 147) with type 2 diabetes and obesity. Members were randomized to modest-cost LI or usual care (UC). Outcomes were group differences in cumulative days either missed at work or with disability using Mann-Whitney U-tests and Poisson regression models. RESULTS LI reduced the risk of workdays lost by 64.3% (P <or= 0.001) compared to UC (annual accumulation: UC: 3.49 days vs LI: 0.92 days, P = 0.01). LI decreased the risk of disability days by 87.2% (P = 0.0003) compared to UC (annual accumulation: UC: 5.3 days vs LI: 0.94 days, P <or= 0.001). Similar trends were observed among the subset of people with depression. CONCLUSION LIs reduce work loss and disability days associated with diabetes and obesity.