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Diabetes risk fails to influence behavior change
The risk for type 2 diabetes, whether genetic or phenotypic, does not influence short-term behavior changes or cause an increase in worry or anxiety, study data show.
Job G. Godino, PhD, of the Center for Wireless and Population Health Systems, department of family medicine and public health, and Qualcomm Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology at the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues evaluated data from the Fenland Study, investigating the influence of lifestyle and genetics on diabetes development, on 569 adults (mean age, 48.7 years). Participants provided blood samples for calculation of diabetes risk and wore a heart rate monitor and accelerometer to provide at least 36 hours of activity data. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of three groups: standard lifestyle advice alone (n = 190; controls), advice plus genetic risk estimate for type 2 diabetes (n = 189) or advice plus phenotypic risk estimate (n = 190). Follow-up was conducted over 8 weeks. Primary outcome was physical activity (measured as kJ/kg per day), and secondary outcomes included self-reported diet, weight, worry, anxiety and perceived risk.
Risk estimates did not cause significant differences in measured physical activity at week 8. There was also no significant difference for physical activity defined by age, BMI, physical activity, self-reported diet, self-reported weight, self-rated health, behavioral intention, perceived risk, anxiety, worry, time since participation in the study or receipt of high or low risk estimate.
The genetic risk estimate was associated with a greater increase in physical activity among women (P = .037) vs. men (P = .213) when compared with the control group.
A lower perceived risk was reported by participants who received a risk estimate immediately after the intervention compared with those who did not.
“These findings are consistent with systematic review evidence and should inform the ongoing debate regarding the regulatory response to the proliferation of direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies,” the researchers wrote. “Additional research is needed to investigate the conditions under which risk information might enhance preventive strategies. Approaches targeting individual behavior change, such as communicating genetic risk, are unlikely to be successful in isolation in an environment in which there are many impediments to being physically active and eating a healthy diet. The results of the current study thus provide further evidence for a shift in focus for promoting health changes in habitual, environmentally patterned behaviors, such as physical activity and diet, away from intervention solely based on provision of information and advice to individuals towards interventions that target the wider collective determinants of disease.” – by Amber Cox
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.