Evaluation of physical activity reporting in community Diabetes Prevention Program lifestyle intervention efforts: A systematic review

Abstract

Introduction: The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) lifestyle intervention has been translated to community settings using the DPP goals of 7% weight loss and 150min of moderate physical activity (PA) per week. Given that PA is a primary lifestyle goal and has been linked to improvements in metabolic health in the DPP, it is important to understand the role that PA plays in translation effort success. The purpose of this review is to thoroughly evaluate the reporting of PA methodology and results in DPP-based translations in order to guide future prevention efforts.

Methods: PubMed and Ovid databases were searched to identify peer-reviewed original research articles on DPP-based translations for adults at-risk for developing diabetes or cardiovascular disease, limited to English language publications from January 2002-March 2015.

Results: 72 original research articles describing 57 translation studies met eligibility criteria. All 57 study interventions included a PA goal, 47 studies (82%) collected participant PA information, and 34 (60%) provided PA results.

Conclusions: Despite PA being a primary intervention goal, PA methodology and results are under-reported in published DPP translation studies. This absence and inconsistency in reporting PA needs addressed in order to fully understand translation efforts' impact on participant health.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, type 2; Physical activity; Preventive medicine; Public health.