Clinical trials have shown that type 2 diabetes can be effectively prevented with lifestyle interventions. However, attempts to translate scientific evidence into actions in the real-world health care have not led to permanent and cost-effective models to prevent T2D. The StopDia study, carried out in the primary health care system as part of the routine actions of three provinces in Finland, will complement previous research by 1) exploring how to improve reaching individuals at risk, 2) studying how to increase participation and adherence to a lifestyle intervention, 3) creating personalized intervention models, 4) evaluating the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of actions to improve lifestyle and prevent type 2 diabetes, and 5) promoting the adoption, implementation, and maintenance of the preventive actions that are fully integrated in the Finnish routine health care.
Stop Diabetes (StopDia) project is funded by the Strategic Research Council of the Academy of Finland, and the partners are University of Eastern Finland (coordinator), VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd and National Institute for Health and Welfare.
Pihlajamäki, J., Männikkö, R., Tilles-Tirkkonen, T., Karhunen, L., Kolehmainen, M., Schwab, U., Lintu, N., Paananen, J., Järvenpää, R., Harjumaa, M., Martikainen, J., Kohl, J., Poutanen, K., Ermes, M., Absetz, P., Lindström, J., Lakka, T. (2019). Digitally supported program for type 2 diabetes risk identification and risk reduction in real-world setting: protocol for the StopDia model and randomized controlled trial. BMC public health, 19(1), 255.