Blue ribbon panel meets to develop lifestyle medicine competencies
The American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM) has launched a web page featuring an extensive literature review on lifestyle medicine -the practice of changing health behaviors to promote health and prevent and treat disease. The document summarizes scientific evidence supporting lifestyle interventions. It also provides information on related topics such as definitions, reimbursement trends, related practice patterns, and relevant organizations. The appendix summarizes the literature review's evidence by disease and behavior category in chart format. Researchers, policymakers and the public can access the review and other relevant information at http://www.acpm.org/LifestyleMedicine.htm.
"We can trace the root causes of 2 of every 5 deaths in the United States to lifestyle behaviors. Now anyone can learn about the scientific basis for behavior change interventions with the click of a mouse," says David Shih, MD, MS, ACPM senior director for medical affairs
The website also describes ACPM's activities in Lifestyle Medicine, including the formation of the Lifestyle Medicine Task Force and development of a clinical preventive and lifestyle medicine track for the Preventive Medicine 2010 meeting in Washington, DC.