A web-based lifestyle intervention for women with recent gestational diabetes mellitus: a randomized controlled trial

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

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.

Information and Communication Technology Use Among Low-Income Pregnant and Postpartum Women by Race and Ethnicity: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background

Pregnancy and the postpartum period provide windows of opportunity to impact perinatal and lifelong preventive health behavior for women and their families, but these opportunities are often missed. Understanding racial/ethnic differences in information and communication technology (ICT) use could inform technology-based interventions in diverse populations.

Objective

The objective of the study was to evaluate differences in the use of ICT between racial and ethnic groups as well as by English language proficiency.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study of 246 women who were aged 18 years or older and pregnant or within 1 year of delivery. They were recruited from 4 hospital-based outpatient clinics and completed a self-administered survey. We used multivariate regression analysis to evaluate the association between race/ethnicity and ICT (mobile phone/short message service [SMS] text message, Internet, and social network) usage by race/ethnicity and perceived English language proficiency after adjusting for age, income, marital status, and insurance status.

Results

In all, 28% (69/246) of participants were Latina, 40% (98/246) were African American, 23% (56/246) were white, and 9% (23/246) from other racial/ethnic groups. Of the Latinas, 84% (58/69) reported limited English language proficiency and 59% (41/69) were uninsured. More than 90% of all participants reported mobile phone use, but more than 25% (65/246) had changed phone numbers 2 or more times in the past year. Compared to white women, African American women were less likely to SMS text message (OR 0.07, 95% CI 0.01-0.63) and Latinas were less likely to use the Internet to find others with similar concerns (OR 0.23, 95% CI 0.08-0.73). Women with limited English language proficiency were less likely to use the Internet overall (OR 0.30, 95% CI 0.09-0.99) or use email (OR 0.22, 95% CI 0.08-0.63) compared to women with adequate English language proficiency.

Conclusions

Mobile phones are widely available for the delivery of health interventions to low-income, racially diverse pregnant and postpartum women, but disparities in Internet use and SMS text messaging exist. Interventions or programs requiring Web-based apps may have lower uptake unless alternatives are available, such as those adapted for limited English proficiency populations.

Optimizing Weight for Maternal and Infant Health - Tenable, or Too Late?

Obesity in pregnancy is the leading cause of maternal and fetal morbidity, and gestational weight gain (GWG) is one modifiable risk factor that improves pregnancy outcomes. Most pregnant women gain more than the 2009 Institute of Medicine recommendations, particularly overweight and obese women. GWG even less than the 2009 IOM guidelines in obese women may improve pregnancy outcomes and reduce large-for-gestational-age (LGA) infants, an independent risk factor for childhood obesity, without increasing small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants. Unfortunately, despite the fact that over 50 interventional trials designed to decrease excess GWG have been conducted, these interventions have been only modestly effective, and interventions designed to facilitate weight postpartum weight loss have also been disappointing. Successful interventions are of paramount importance not only to improve pregnancy outcomes but also for the future metabolic health of the mother and her infant, and may be key in attenuating the trans-generational risk on childhood obesity.