Publication:

Community based diabetes prevention programme in older adults in a Greek rural area

Background Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) is one of the commonest non-communicable diseases. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a two-year, non-intensive lifestyle intervention programme to prevent type 2 diabetes (T2D) in older people, held in ‘real world’ community rural settings.

Methods A total of 34 participants, 66±6 years old, at high risk for T2D were recruited from the open protective centres of elderly in a Greek rural town. The intervention included 16 group sessions for the intervention group and one session at baseline for the control group, delivered by a registered dietitian. Clinical and metabolic factors, dietary habits and physical activity were measured.

Results Analyses of between-group differences at year 1 revealed that the participants in the intervention group achieved greater decreases in weight (-0.8±1.9 versus 1.7±3.8 kg, p=0.021), waist circumference -1 (-2 -1) cm (p=0.027), diastolic blood pressure (-2.89±14.71 versus 15.85±20.19 mmHg,  p=0.044), LDL-C (-22.29±31.42 versus -2.60±19.84 mg/dl, p=0.05), in energy intake (-202.6±409.2 versus 194.3±453.7 kcal/day, p=0.015) and saturated fat intake (-4.8±13.7 versus 5.1±11.8g/day, p=0.044).The fiber consumption was significantly greater in the intervention group (3.7±2.2 versus -0.1±2.8g/day, p=0.001). At year 2, significant differences were observed in waist circumference (-2.3±3.5 vs. 2.9±7.1cm, p=0.019), diastolic blood pressure (-1.38±14.29 versus 13.5±16.06 mmHg, p=0.021), energy intake (-228.6±513.4 versus 264.5±462.1kcal/day, p=0.021) and fat intake (-16±30.2 versus 10.8±30.3g/day, p=0.037).

Conclusions The implementation of a non-intensive lifestyle intervention programme to prevent T2D in older adults in a rural community setting is practical and can have a favourable impact on clinical and metabolic parameters.