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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Irena Pesis-Katz, ABD, Medical Affairs, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, 165 Court St., Rochester, NY 14647, (585)530-6741, irena_pesis-katz@urmc.rochester.edu, Wendy Besio, MS, RD, Health Risk Reduction, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, 165 Court St., Rochester, NY 14647, and I. Diana Fernandez, MD, MPH, PhD, Department of Community and Preventive Medicine, University of Rochester School of Meidicine, 601 Elmwood Ave, Box 644, Rochester, NY 14642.

Obesity rates among American adults have grown significantly in the past 20 years. In attempt to address this community-wide concern, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield launched the Step Up health initiative in August 2004. The Step Up program encourages physical activity and healthy eating habits among adults. Step Up is a web-based initiative that offers participation as single participants (non-competitive) or as part of the Healthy Competition, competing in teams. Participants are encouraged to record and monitor their daily activity (steps) and fruit and vegetable consumption (servings) using personalized web tools and progress trackers. To promote the program, a comprehensive marketing campaign was launched, including radio and television advertisements, direct mail campaigns (employer and consumer targeted), employer tool kits and community outreach. This study evaluates the impact a competitive environment has on an individual's level of physical activity, eating habits and weight status.

During 2005, there were 20,147 single participants and 2,960 competitive participants. Among the participants who recorded their weight loss (N=1,758), competitive participants lost on average 7lbs, where single participants lost only 5lbs (statistically significant at the p<0.01 level). The probability of weight loss was higher by 20% for competitive participants (statistically significant at the p<0.01 level). A multivariate analysis, controlling for individuals' characteristics will also be presented.

The study suggests that participation in a competition has a larger impact on increasing physical activity, improving healthy eating habits and losing weight, when compared to single (non- competitive) participants.

Learning Objectives:

• 1)Describe community-wide strategies to reduce obesity and increase physical activity and healthy eating.
• 2)Evaluate the impact of community-wide strategies with and without competition on obesity, physical activity and healthy eating

Keywords: Obesity, Physical Activity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? Yes

Organization	Clinical/Research Area	Type of Relationship
Excellus BCBS	health services research	Employment (includes retainer)

Any company-sponsored training?	No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?	Yes
Have you received salary support, retainer, or other monies to support your position as part of the research/clinical trials?	Yes
Have you served as the Principal Investigator) for the research/clinical trials?	No
Have the results of your research/clinical trials been published?	No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.