Support & Information

The Blood Pressure Association The Blood Pressure Association is the UK-wide charity dedicated to lowering the nation's blood pressure. They aim to prevent unnecessary death and disability from heart disease, heart attacks and stroke caused by high blood pressure.  They are strong advocates of a healthier lifestyle in conjunction with medication. They offer a wide range of information and support to help people take control of, or avoid, this condition. To find out more click here.

Diabetes UK Diabetes UK is the largest organisation in the UK working for people with diabetes; funding research, campaigning and helping people live with the condition.  They have over 160,000 members and work for people with diabetes, their carers, family and friends. They represent the interests of all people with diabetes by lobbying the government for better standards of care and the best quality of life. To visit their website, click here.

Heart UK

HEART UK is the nation's Cholesterol Charity committed to preventing premature deaths caused by raised cholesterol and cardiovascular disease.

They provide information, advice and support, and are committed to raising awareness about the risks of raised cholesterol, lobby for better detection of those at risk, fund research into improved treatment and support health professional training. To visit their website, click here.

British Heart Foundation

The British Heart Foundation have a vision of a world in which people do not die prematurely of heart disease.  They are the largest heart health charity and focus on pioneering research, vital prevention activity and ensuring quality care and support for everyone living with heart disease.  They also have useful information about a healthy lifestyle on their website. To find our more, click here.

Healthcare Resources

Health Professional briefing sheet

Whether you wish to share information about the Imperative service with your doctor, or you are a doctor or health professional wanting to find out more, download this short document that explains the key features of the Imperative service for health professionals. Please click here.

Peer-Reviewed Papers

Imperative Health has published three peer-reviewed papers about its high levels of engagement with clients and the lifestyle changes these clients have successfully made.  To read the most recent publication click here.

Selected papers from the field

Imperative Health has been developed through over 5 years of research working with some of the world’s leading authorities on behavioural psychology, dietetics and physical activity. Our research programme has been built on the best evidence in the field. Below we have selected just a few of the papers that we think have significantly contributed to this area of research. Our ongoing development means that we continually review evidence and include only proven techniques in our work.

• Chiuve et al. 2006 Healthy Lifestyle Factors in the Primary Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease among Men Circulation
• Describes the risk of CHD events in men taking medication for hypertension or hypercholesterolemia based on lifestyle and shows that in this group, over half of all coronary events may have been prevented with a low-risk lifestyle.
• Chiuve et al. 2008 Primary Prevention of Stroke by Healthy Lifestyle Circulation
• Describes the risk of total and Ischaemic stroke in over 40,000 men and over 70,000 women based on lifestyle and shows that around half of the events, particularly the Ischaemic strokes could have been prevented by healthy lifestyle in both men and women.
• Ford et al. 2009 Healthy Living Is the Best Revenge. Findings From the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition–Potsdam Study. Arch of Intern Medicine
• In over 23,000 men and women age 35-65 years, a healthy lifestyle was associated with a significantly lower risk of developing a chronic disease (diabetes, 93% lower risk; myocardial infarction, 81% lower risk; stroke, 50% lower risk; and cancer, 36% lower risk).

• Tate et al. 2001 Using Internet Technology to Deliver a Behavioral Weight Loss Program JAMA
• One of the first publications suggesting that the internet was a valid and potentially effective way to deliver behavioural weight management programmes
• Napolitana et al. (Full text) 2003 Evaluation of an Internet-Based Physical Activity Intervention: A Preliminary Investigation Annals of Behavioural Medicine
• Shows how an internet programme underpinned by a strong behavioural psychological theoretical framework can increase levels of physical activity. This supports our own research (Hurling et al. Full text)
• Lollgen et al. 2009 Physical activity and all-cause mortality: an updated meta-analysis with different intensity categories. Int J Sports Medicine
• Reviews the associations between the level of activity and all-cause mortality. Most interesting is the significant reduction in risk between sedentary and low activity, and between low and moderate activity suggesting that even small increases in activity, if they are maintained, can have a lasting impact on health.
• Shaw et al. 2006 Exercise for overweight or obesity (Review) Cochrane Database Systematic Reviews
  • Reviews the evidence and discusses the benefits of exercise alone or exercise combined with changes in diet. This paper shows that while exercise can improve markers of health such as blood pressure, blood lipids and glucose, for weight management and maximum effects changes in diet are also required.
• Foreyt & Goodrick 1993 Evidence for Success of Behavior Modification in Weight Loss and Control Annals of Internal Medicine
  • This paper by Professor Foreyt describes the strategies underpinning behavioural modification, many of which have been employed in the building of the Imperative service.
• Tuomilehto et al. 2001 Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus by Changes in Lifestyle among Subjects with Impaired Glucose Tolerance. New England Journal of Medicine
  • This study showed that diabetes could be prevented in people at high risk of developing diabetes by simple lifestyle changes.
• Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group 2002 Reduction in the Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes with Lifestyle Intervention or Metformin. New England Journal of Medicine
  • This study in  over 3,000 people at risk of developing diabetes, showed that making lifestyle changes was again effective  at delaying or preventing the onset of diabetes, so much so that it was almost twice as effective as taking a daily medication called Metformin.
• Chobanian et al. 2003 Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure. Hypertension
  • The most recent blood pressure treatment guidelines that recommend, among other things, prehypertensive individuals (systolic BP 120–139 mm Hg or diastolic BP 80–89 mm Hg) undergo health-promoting lifestyle modifications to prevent the progressive rise in blood pressure and CVD; especially as beginning at 115/75 mm Hg, CVD risk doubles for each increment of 20/10 mm Hg.

Downloads

Latest Windows Servicelink

To download the latest version of the Servicelink application for Windows, click here.

Latest Mac Servicelink

To download the latest version of the Servicelink application for the Mac, click here.