Low-Cost, Group-Based Lifestyle Intervention Aids Diabetes Outcomes

THURSDAY, Aug. 15, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Even individuals with a high genetic risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D) benefit from a low-cost, group-based intervention focused on healthy diet and physical activity, according to a study recently published online in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Maria Anneli Lankinen, Ph.D., from the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio, and colleagues investigated whether a low or high genetic risk has effects on incident T2D in a group-based lifestyle intervention study. The analysis included men (aged 50 to 75 years) participating in the Metabolic Syndrome in Men cohort, with 315 characterized as having low genetic risk and 313 as having high genetic risk for T2D, as well as controls (196 low and 149 high genetic risk).

The researchers found that the three-year intervention significantly lowered the risk for T2D among the participants with a high genetic risk for T2D (hazard ratio, 0.30; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.16 to 0.56; P < 0.001). However, in the low genetic risk group, the effect was not significant (hazard ratio, 0.69; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.36 to 1.32; P = 0.262). Between the high and low genetic risk groups, the intervention effect was not significantly different. In both the low and high genetic risk groups, the intervention significantly ameliorated the worsening of glycemia and decreased weight.

"All individuals at risk of T2D should be encouraged to make lifestyle changes regardless of genetic risk," the authors write.

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