Diabetes Prevention in U.S. Hispanic Adults: A Systematic Review of Culturally Tailored Interventions

Type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, and metabolic syndrome are highly prevalent in Hispanic individuals in the U.S. Cultural adaptations of traditional lifestyle interventions have been recommended to better reach this high-risk population. This systematic review examined the effectiveness of diabetes prevention programs for Hispanics in lowering risk for Type 2 diabetes, as evidenced by a reduction in weight or improvement in glucose regulation.

PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Web of Science, and PsycINFO were searched from database inception to June 2016 for studies that evaluated diabetes prevention trials targeting U.S. Hispanic populations. Twelve publications met criteria for inclusion.

Interventions varied substantially in length, rigor, and tailoring strategies. Five of 12 studies were RCTs. Eight studies included entirely or largely (>70%) female samples. All studies were delivered in Spanish and took place in community settings. Nine studies reported significant reductions in weight, and two in glucose regulation, post-intervention or when compared with controls. Effect sizes were small to moderate, study quality was moderate, and attrition was high in most trials. Interventions with the largest effect sizes included one or more of the following adaptations: literacy modification, Hispanic foods/recipes, cultural diabetes beliefs, family/friend participation, structured community input, and innovative experiential learning.

Culturally tailored lifestyle interventions for diabetes prevention appear to be modestly effective in reducing risk for diabetes in Hispanics in the U.S. More studies are needed that utilize randomized controlled designs, recruit Hispanic men, report intervention content and tailoring strategies systematically, and publish participant evaluation and feedback.