Weight Loss of Black, White, and Hispanic Men and Women in the Diabetes Prevention Program

• Published in: Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) Md.), 2008-06, Vol.16 (6), p.1413-1420
• Main Authors: West, Delia S, Prewitt, T. Elaine, Bursac, Zoran, Felix, Holly C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; African Americans; Aged; Behavior; Black people; Blacks; Continental Population Groups; Core curriculum; Diabetes; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - drug therapy; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - ethnology; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - prevention & control; diet-related diseases; disease prevention; Epidemiology; European Continental Ancestry Group; Exercise; Female; gender differences; Glucose; Health care; Hispanic Americans; Hispanics; Humans; hyperglycemia; Hypoglycemic Agents - therapeutic use; insulin resistance; Intervention; Life Style - ethnology; lifestyle; Lifestyles; Longitudinal Studies; Male; men; metformin; Metformin - therapeutic use; Middle Aged; noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus; Obesity; Overweight; Prevention programs; Sex Factors; Treatment Outcome; United States; Weight control; weight control programs; Weight Loss; White people; Whites; women; Womens health
• ISSN: 1930-7381; 1930-739X
• DOI: 10.1038/oby.2008.224

Objective: To provide the specific weight loss outcomes for African‐American, Hispanic, and white men and women in the lifestyle and metformin treatment arms of the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) by race‐gender group to facilitate researchers translating similar interventions to minority populations, as well as provide realistic weight loss expectations for clinicians. Methods and Procedures: Secondary analyses of weight loss of 2,921 overweight participants (22% black; 17% Hispanic; 61% white; and 68% women) with impaired glucose tolerance randomized in the DPP to intensive lifestyle modification, metformin or placebo. Data over a 30‐month period are examined for comparability across treatment arms by race and gender. Results: Within lifestyle treatment, all race‐gender groups lost comparable amounts of weight with the exception of black women who exhibited significantly smaller weight losses (P < 0.01). For example, at 12 months, weight losses for white men (−8.4%), white women (−8.1%), Hispanic men (−7.8%), Hispanic women (−7.1%), and black men (−7.1%) were similar and significantly higher than black women (−4.5%). In contrast, within metformin treatment, all race‐gender groups including black women lost similar amounts of weight. Race‐gender specific mean weight loss data are provided by treatment arm for each follow‐up period. Discussion: Diminished weight losses were apparent among black women in comparison with other race‐gender groups in a lifestyle intervention but not metformin, underscoring the critical nature of examining sociocultural and environmental contributors to successful lifestyle intervention for black women.