Poster Presentation Australian & New Zealand Obesity Society 2015 Annual Scientific Meeting

PREVIEW Study Australia: analysis of screening and recruitment results (#283)

Alice Meroni 1 , Shannon Overs 1 , Jessica Honeywood 1 , Stephen Colagiuri 2 , Mikael Fogelholm 3 , Anne Raben 4 , Jennie Brand-Miller 1 2 , Roslyn Muirhead 1 , Radhika Seimon 5
  1. School of Molecular Biosciences and Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  2. The Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise & Eating Disorders, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  3. Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
  4. Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
  5. School of Molecular Biosciences and Charles Perkins Centre, , The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Introduction: The PREVIEW lifestyle intervention study is a 3-y randomised controlled trial for prevention of type 2 diabetes (T2D) involving 8 sites in Europe, Australia and New Zealand and funded by the EU-FP7 program (No: 312057 FP7-KBBE-2012) and NH&MRC (Australia).  This analysis aimed to identify the main barriers to recruitment of overweight/obese individuals with pre-diabetes in Sydney.

Methods: Various promotional methods were used to recruit potential participants. Those interested were contacted for a pre-screening interview and assessed against the eligibility criteria. The AUSDRISK and FINDRISK scores were used to assess an individual’s risk of developing T2D. Eligible participants were aged 25-70 years, overweight (BMI >25 kg/m2) and diagnosed with pre-diabetes (impaired fasting glucose and/or impaired glucose tolerance evaluated during screening with 2 hours oral glucose tolerance test, OGTT).

Results: 3,108 individuals completed the pre-screening interview. Of these, 2,469 were found not eligible for further screening (OGTT). The primary reasons for exclusion at pre-screening were loss of interest (n=981, 40%), geographic location (n=406, 16%), medication (n=265, 11%), low diabetes risk scores (n=265, 11%) and age (n=125, 5%). A high number of potential participants (n=203) were excluded because they were taking oral hypoglyceamic agents (e.g. metformin).

The remaining 595 individuals were screened by OGTT, of which 195 (33%) were diagnosed with pre-diabetes and were eligible to participate. Of the remainder, 42 (7%) met the criteria for T2D, 348 (58%) had normal glucose status, and 2% were excluded for other reasons.

Conclusion: Study investigators faced many problems in their efforts to recruit people with pre-diabetes. In PREVIEW Australia, only 6% of 3108 people who responded to advertising, were eligible to participate.