Impact of a 2-year intervention program on cardiometabolic profile according to the number of goals achieved

ABSTRACT

We investigated the impact of lifestyle goal achievement on cardiovascular risk factors after a 2-year behavioral intervention program applied to 394 adults (113 with diabetes, mean age 60.2 ± 11.4 years, 56 percent women) and targeting four goals ≥5 percent weight loss; ≥150 min/week physical activities; <10 percent saturated fat intake/day; ≥400 g fruit and vegetable intake/day. Baseline characteristics and changes in variables after intervention among the four categories of number of goals achieved (none, 1, 2, and ≥3) were compared by independent ANOVA or the Kruskal-Wallis test. Individuals without diabetes achieving a higher number of goals were more likely to be older (3 or 4 goals 61.8 ± 12.6 years vs none 53.3 ± 10.3 years, P < 0.05) and to have a lower mean BMI (3 or 4 goals 21.7 ± 2.6 kg/m² vs none 29.0 ± 4.8 kg/m², P < 0.05), diastolic blood pressure (3 or 4 goals 77.3 ± 2.1 mmHg vs none 85.4 ± 9.6 mmHg, P < 0.05), triglyceride (3 or 4 goals 116.1 ± 95.1 mg/dL vs none 144.8 ± 65.5 mg/dL, P < 0.05) and insulin levels (3 or 4 goals 3.6 ± 2.4 μU/L vs none 5.7 ± 4.0 μU/L, P < 0.05) than those achieving fewer goals. The absolute changes in cardiovascular risk factors tended to be more pronounced with increasing number of goals achieved in individuals without diabetes. The intervention had a beneficial impact on the cardiometabolic profile of individuals with normal or altered glucose metabolism. The number of goals achieved in this lifestyle intervention was associated with the magnitude of improvement of cardiovascular risk factors in individuals without diabetes. Participants with a better cardiometabolic profile seemed to be more likely to have a healthy lifestyle.