Socio-demographic characteristics and body weight perceptions of study participants benefitting most from the feel4diabetes program based on their anthropometric and glycaemic profile changes

The Feel4Diabetes program was comprised of a community-based screening and a two-year intervention phase aiming to prevent type 2 diabetes (T2D) in families at risk for diabetes across Europe. The current work aimed to identify the socio-demographic characteristics and body weight perceptions of participants who benefitted the most, achieving at least a 5% reduction in body weight, waist circumference and glycaemic indices (fasting plasma glucose, insulin, glycosylated haemoglobin levels), over two-year period. Following a two-stage screening procedure, 2294 high-risk parents were randomly allocated to standard care or more intensive intervention. The participants who benefitted most were living in Southern (OR 2.39–3.67, p < 0.001) and Eastern Europe (OR 1.55–2.47, p < 0.05), received more intensive intervention (OR 1.53–1.90, p = 0.002) and were younger (<40 years old) adults (OR 1.48–1.51, p < 0.05). Furthermore, individuals with tertiary education (OR 2.06, p < 0.001), who were unemployed (OR 1.62–1.68, p < 0.05) and perceived their body weight to be higher than normal (OR 1.58–3.00, p < 0.05) were more likely to benefit from the program. Lastly, males were more likely to show improvements in their glycaemic profiles compared to females (OR 1.40, p = 0.024). These findings point out the regions in Europe and the sociodemographic profile of individuals that benefitted the most in the current study, highlighting the need to prioritise regions in greater need for such interventions and also tailor future interventions to the characteristics and perceptions of the target populations