Metabolic syndrome in rural Australia:An opportunity for primary health care

Objective: To measure the impact of a 6-month home-based behaviour change intervention on reducing the risk of chronic disease as determined by metabolic syndrome status and cardiovascular risk score, and discuss implications for primary care in rural areas.Design: A two-arm randomised controlled trial of rural adults.Setting: The rural town of Albany in the Great Southern region of Western Australia.Participants: Participants (n = 401) aged 50-69 years who were classified with or at risk of metabolic syndrome and randomly assigned to intervention (n = 201) or waitlisted control (n = 200) group.Interventions: A 6-month intervention program incorporating goal setting, self-monitoring and feedback, with motivational interviewing was conducted.Main outcome measures: Change in metabolic syndrome status and cardiovascular risk.Results: Significant improvements in metabolic syndrome status and cardiovascular disease risk score (-0.82) were observed for the intervention group relative to control group from baseline to post-test.Conclusion: This home-based physical activity and nutrition intervention reduced participants' risk of experiencing a cardiovascular event in the next 5 years by 1%. Incorporating such prevention orientated approaches in primary care might assist in reducing the burden of long-term chronic diseases. However, for realistic application in this setting, hurdles such as current national health billing system and availability of resources will need to be considered.