TY - JOUR
T1 - Feasibility and Effectiveness of a Preventive Care Program during the Compound Humanitarian Crisis and COVID-19 Pandemic in Venezuela
AU - González-Rivas, Juan P.
AU - Infante-García, María M.
AU - Nieto-Martinez, Ramfis
AU - Mechanick, Jeffrey I.
AU - Danaei, Goodarz
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: The HITS Diabetes with Prevention Study was funded by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Departments of Global Health and Population and Epidemiology, Bernard Lown Scholars in Cardiovascular Health Program, with the number Agreement #BLSCHP-2004.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/3/1
Y1 - 2022/3/1
N2 - Effective preventive care programs are urgently needed during humanitarian crises, as has been especially obvious during the COVID-19 pandemic. A pragmatic trial was designed: hybridized intervention (Diabetes Prevention Program [DPP] + medical nutrition therapy + liquid diet [LD]; LD group) vs. DPP only (DPP group). The participants were adults who were overweight/obese and at high risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The LD consisted of a “homemade” milk-and fruit-juice-based beverage. Pandemic restrictions delayed the program by nine months, tripled the amount of time required for screening, and reduced the total sample to 60%. Eventually, 127 participants were randomized, and 94/127 participants (74.0%) completed the first phase. Participant dropout was influenced by migration, COVID-19 symptoms, education level, and socioeconomic status. In two months, the LD group lost 2.9 kg (p < 0.001) and the DPP group, 2.2 kg (p < 0.001) (between-group p = 0.170), with improvements in their cardiometabolic risk factors. At this stage, the DPP was shown to be feasible and effective, demonstrating weight loss with the improvement of cardiometabolic risk factors in a primary setting in Venezuela, a middle-income country with a chronic humanitarian crisis, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
AB - Effective preventive care programs are urgently needed during humanitarian crises, as has been especially obvious during the COVID-19 pandemic. A pragmatic trial was designed: hybridized intervention (Diabetes Prevention Program [DPP] + medical nutrition therapy + liquid diet [LD]; LD group) vs. DPP only (DPP group). The participants were adults who were overweight/obese and at high risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The LD consisted of a “homemade” milk-and fruit-juice-based beverage. Pandemic restrictions delayed the program by nine months, tripled the amount of time required for screening, and reduced the total sample to 60%. Eventually, 127 participants were randomized, and 94/127 participants (74.0%) completed the first phase. Participant dropout was influenced by migration, COVID-19 symptoms, education level, and socioeconomic status. In two months, the LD group lost 2.9 kg (p < 0.001) and the DPP group, 2.2 kg (p < 0.001) (between-group p = 0.170), with improvements in their cardiometabolic risk factors. At this stage, the DPP was shown to be feasible and effective, demonstrating weight loss with the improvement of cardiometabolic risk factors in a primary setting in Venezuela, a middle-income country with a chronic humanitarian crisis, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Humanitarian crisis
KW - Primary prevention
KW - Type 2 diabetes mellitus
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125184101&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/nu14050939
DO - 10.3390/nu14050939
M3 - Article
C2 - 35267915
AN - SCOPUS:85125184101
SN - 2072-6643
VL - 14
JO - Nutrients
JF - Nutrients
IS - 5
M1 - 939
ER -