The team looked at 44 published studies which included almost 9,000 adults who had participated in prevention programs carried out in communities, clinics and through online media.
Lead researcher Mohammed K Ali, who is an associate professor in the Hubert Department of Global Health at Emory, said: “There are a number of studies that have shown that weight loss is achievable through DPP programs. Our study goes further by estimating the aggregate metabolic changes that can be achieved.”
Dr Ali also believes the study proves programs, which look at modifying the lifestyle, can be successfully delivered in non-academic and non-clinical settings.
He said: “On average, participants in the 44 included studies were similar to participants in the original DPP trial, and achieved less weight loss (3.8 vs. 6.8kg), but similar improvements in glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol reductions and programs with a maintenance component (keeping contact with participants even after the core program sessions are complete) were associated with larger benefits.”
Earlier this year, the NHS Diabetes Prevention Program was launched across the UK, and these lifestyle programs are aimed at identifying people at risk and subsequently easing the type 2 diabetes epidemic.
The authors concluded: “According to our findings, there is no difference in outcomes based on who or where DPP programs are delivered, and improvement in other cardio-metabolic factors suggests the program may be especially cost-effective.
“These types of interventions can yield great results for diabetes prevention.”
The findings have been published in the PLOS Medicine journal.