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Aim s : Community‐ and school‐based lifestyle interventions are an efficient method of preventing type 2 diabetes in vulnerable populations. Many participants, however, fail to complete the necessary follow‐ups. We investigated factors affecting the continuous participation in follow‐up evaluations during the Feel4Diabetes‐study, a multilevel intervention programme implemented across Europe. Methods: Socioeconomic, sociodemographic and clinical factors were assessed for 2702 participants within six participating countries: Bulgaria and Hungary (low‐to‐middle‐income countries, LMIC), Belgium and Finland (high‐income countries, HIC) and Greece and Spain (high‐income countries under austerity measures, HICAM). Results: Statistically significant differences were detected with respect to sex, control group, education level, employment status, BMI and blood pressure measurements (systolic and diastolic blood pressure). Post hoc analysis revealed significant differences within socioeconomic regions. Higher levels of education were associated with significantly lower attrition in HIC (p < 0.05) and HICAM (p < 0.001), higher employment status was associated with lower attrition in HICAM (p < 0.001) and being female was associated with lower attrition in LMIC (p < 0.001). Surprisingly, the intervention group exhibited higher‐than‐expected attrition in HIC (p < 0.001) and HICAM (p = 0.003), and lower attrition in LMIC (p = 0.007). When tested together in the same multivariable predictive model, all sociodemographic and socioeconomic variables along with higher BMI retained their statistical significance, while systolic and diastolic blood pressure failed to remain significant. Conclusions: Key socioeconomic and sociodemographic factors along with BMI play a significant role in determining continuous participation in follow‐up evaluations during school‐ and community‐based intervention programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Food parenting practices, behaviours and food availability at home are associated with children's food choices; however, these associations have been mainly studied for each parenting practice separately and focused mostly on healthy populations. The aim of the study was to identify patterns of parenting practices (including data regarding food availability at home, food and physical activity–related behaviours and rewards) and to investigate their cross‐sectional associations with children's food choices in families at high risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D). Methods: Data of parents and children (n = 2278), from the Feel4Diabetes study conducted in six European countries, were collected using validated questionnaires. The data analysed included children's food choices, food availability at home and food and physical activity–related parenting practices. Four patterns of parenting practices were identified using principal component analysis, and associations between those components and children's food choices were assessed using adjusted, individual linear regressions. Results: Parenting patterns focusing on unhealthy habits, such as allowing unhealthy snacks and unlimited screen time, providing higher availability of unhealthy foods at home, rewarding with snacks and screen time, were positively associated with children's unhealthy food choices (consumption of savoury/sweet snacks, fizzy drinks, etc.). The parenting patterns providing fruit/vegetables at home, consuming fruit, and being physically active with the child were positively associated with children's healthier food choices (consumption of fruit, vegetables, whole grain cereals, etc.). Conclusions: Public health initiatives should focus on high‐risk families for T2D, assisting them to adopt appropriate parenting practices and behaviours to promote healthier food choices for children. Key points: Food and lifestyle–related parenting practices are associated with children's food choices in healthy populations; little is known in families at high‐risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D).Four parenting patterns (PP1–PP4) in high‐risk families for T2D were created, including healthy or unhealthy food, physical activity and screen‐related habits, and food availability at home.A more authoritative parenting pattern (high availability of fruits and vegetables at home, consumption of fruit/vegetables with the child, being active with the child) was positively associated with healthy children's food choices, including fruit and vegetables, whole grains, and fish.More permissive and/or neglectful parenting patterns (allow and reward with screen time and unhealthy snack consumption, high availability of unhealthy foods) were positively associated with children's choices of sugary snacks and drinks, red meat, and non‐whole grains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although there are many interventions targeting childhood obesity prevention, only few have demonstrated positive results. The current review aimed to gather and evaluate available school-based intervention studies with family involvement targeting dietary, physical activity and sedentary behaviors among primary schoolchildren and their families, in order to identify the most effective strategies. Methods: Studies published between 2000 and January 2015 were retrieved from scientific electronic databases and grey literature. The databases used included MEDLINE/PubMed, Web-of-Science, CINAHL and Scopus. Included studies had to be experimental controlled studies and had duration over 1 school year, had family involvement, combined PA and dietary behaviors and were implemented in school setting. A complementary search was executed to update the review to cover the period from February 2015 to January 2019. Results: From the studies examined (n = 425), 27 intervention programs (33 publications) fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Among these, 15 presented significant effect on weight status and/ or overweight/ obesity or clinical indices, 3 presented significant effect on most energy balance-related behaviors (EBRBs) while 9 presented significant effect on some/few EBRBs or determinants. Strategies implemented in effective interventions were: teachers acting as role-models and being actively involved in the delivery of the intervention, school policies supporting the availability of healthy food and beverage choices and limiting unhealthy snacks, changes in the schoolyard, in the recess rules and in the physical education classes to increase physical activity, and involving parents in the intervention via assignments, meetings, informative material and encouraging them to improve the home environment. Use of incentives for children, social marketing techniques, collaboration with local stakeholders were found to increase effectiveness. Programs that focused only on educational sessions and material for parents, without promoting relevant environmental and policy changes, were found to be less effective. Cultural adaptations have been suggested to increase the intervention's acceptance in specific or vulnerable population groups. Conclusions: Several effective strategies were identified in the reviewed programs. Outcomes of the current review were taken into account in developing the Feel4Diabetes-intervention and summed up as recommendations in the current work in order to facilitate other researchers designing similar childhood obesity prevention initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The clinical and economic burden of type 2 diabetes mellitus on society is rising. Effective and efficient preventive measures may stop the increasing prevalence, given that type 2 diabetes mellitus is mainly a lifestyle-driven disease. The Feel4Diabetes-study aimed to tackle unhealthy lifestyle (unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and excess weight) of families with a child in the first grades of elementary school. These schools were located in regions with a relatively low socio-economic status in Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Hungary and Spain. Special attention was paid to families with a high risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods: The aim of this paper is to describe the detailed methodology of the intervention's cost-effectiveness analysis. Based on the health economic evaluation of the Toybox-study, both a decision analytic part and a Markov model have been designed to assess the long-term (time horizon of 70 year with one-year cycles) intervention's value for money. Data sources used for the calculation of health state incidences, transition probabilities between health states, health state costs, and health state utilities are listed. Intervention-related costs were collected by questionnaires and diaries, and attributed to either all families or high risk families only. Conclusions: The optimal use of limited resources is pivotal. The future results of the health economic evaluation of the Feel4Diabetes-study will contribute to the efficient use of those resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Feel4Diabetes was a school and community based intervention aiming to promote healthy lifestyle and tackle obesity for the prevention of type 2 diabetes among families in 6 European countries. We conducted this literature review in order to guide the development of evidence-based implementation of the Feel4Diabetes intervention. We focused on type 2 diabetes prevention strategies, including all the phases from risk identification to implementation and maintenance. Special focus was given to prevention among vulnerable groups and people under 45 years. Methods: Scientific and grey literature published between January 2000 and January 2015 was searched for relevant studies using electronic databases. To present the literature review findings in a systematic way, we used the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework. A complementary literature search from February 2015 to December 2018 was also conducted. Results: The initial review included 27 studies with a follow-up ≥12 months and 9 studies with a follow-up ≥6 months and with a participant mean age < 45 years. We found out that interventions should be targeted at people at risk to improve recruiting and intervention effectiveness. Screening questionnaires (primarily Finnish Diabetes Risk Score FINDRISC) and blood glucose measurement can both be used for screening; the method does not appear to affect intervention effectiveness. Screening and recruitment is time-consuming, especially when targeting lower socioeconomic status and age under 45 years. The intervention intensity is more important for effectiveness than the mode of delivery. Moderate changes in several lifestyle habits lead to good intervention results. A minimum of 3-year follow-up seemed to be required to show a reduction in diabetes risk in high-risk individuals. In participants < 45 years, the achieved results in outcomes were less pronounced. The complementary review included 12 studies, with similar results regarding intervention targets and delivery modes, as well as clinical significance. Conclusion: This narrative review highlighted several important aspects that subsequently guided the development of the Feel4Diabetes high-risk intervention. Research on diabetes prevention interventions targeted at younger adults or vulnerable population groups is still relatively scarce. Feel4Diabetes is a good example of a project aiming to fill this research gap. Trial registration: clinicaltrials.gov NCT02393872, registered 20th March 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identification of participants' characteristics who benefited most from large community-based intervention studies may guide future prevention initiatives in order to maximize their effectiveness. The current study aimed to examine the socio-demographic, anthropometric, and behavioral characteristics, as well as the health and eating perceptions of those who improved their lipidemic profile, in the Feel4Diabetes early screening and prevention program. In the present analyses, 1773 adults from families at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) were enrolled, receiving either the standard care or the more intensive intervention, and 33.3–55.2% of them improved one or more of their lipidemic indices by >5%. Women, people living in Southeastern Europe, coming from two-parent families, having higher financial security, educational level and better diet quality were associated with a 27–64% higher likelihood for benefiting from the program regarding one or more of their lipidemic profile indices. Participants who were overweight or obese (especially with central obesity), employed, with prolonged sedentary behavior, prone to emotional eating and perceiving their weight status as lower than their actual weight were 24–43% less likely to have benefited. These findings should guide future interventions, prioritizing regions in greater need, and being tailor-made to specific population characteristics in order to further improve their effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early identification of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and hypertension (HTN) risk may improve prevention and promote public health. Implementation of self-reported scores for risk assessment provides an alternative cost-effective tool. The study aimed to develop and validate two easy-to-apply screening tools identifying high-risk individuals for insulin resistance (IR) and HTN in a European cohort. Sociodemographic, lifestyle, anthropometric and clinical data obtained from 1581 and 1350 adults (baseline data from the Feel4Diabetes-study) were used for the European IR and the European HTN risk assessment index respectively. Body mass index, waist circumference, sex, age, breakfast consumption, alcohol, legumes and sugary drinks intake, physical activity and sedentary behavior were significantly correlated with Homeostatic Model Assessment of IR (HOMA-IR) and/or HTN and incorporated in the two models. For the IR index, the Area Under the Curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity for identifying individuals above the 75th and 95th of HOMA-IR percentiles were 0.768 (95%CI: 0.721–0.815), 0.720 and 0.691 and 0.828 (95%CI: 0.766–0.890), 0.696 and 0.778 respectively. For the HTN index, the AUC, sensitivity and specificity were 0.778 (95%CI: 0.680–0.876), 0.667 and 0.797. The developed risk assessment tools are easy-to-apply, valid, and low-cost, identifying European adults at high risk for developing T2DM or having HTN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]