Reducing Type 2 Diabetes Risk With Lifestyle Intervention, with Piaopiao Li and Hui Shao, MD, PhD

New long term findings from the VA MOVE! lifestyle intervention program found that it generally reduced the incidence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) over 15 years, although efficacy significantly varied by subgroups and declined over time.

These long term data were presented by Piaopiao Li, MS, a PhD candidate at University of South Florida, at the 2025 American Diabetes Association (ADA) Scientific Sessions, held June 20-23, in Chicago, Illinois.

HCPLive spoke with Li and the primary investigator of the study, Hui Shao, MD, PhD, associate professor in the Hubert Department of Global Health, and the School of Public Health at Emory University, to learn more about what VA MOVE!, demonstrated in terms of T2D risk reduction, what the findings add to the literature, and further research they would like to see done with lifestyle interventions and T2D risk.

After 3 year follow up, the risk of developing T2D was reduced by 49% and after 15 years follow up, the risk was reduced by 24%. The investigators also found that those with higher baseline BMI or with higher random glucose level benefitted more from participating the VA MOVE! program.

"The missing gap this study is trying to fill is actually to understand the long term effectiveness of the program... I think the success of this project in particular was that [it demonstrated] the long term benefit of the lifestyle interventions. So this actually works, which is something novel and never being tested and examined in previous literatures. So this is what is added to the current existing knowledge," Shao said.

Li and Shao have no disclosures to report.

REFERENCE

Li P, Shao H, Xue Q, et al. Assessing the Real-World Effectiveness of the VA MOVE! Lifestyle Program in Preventing Type 2 Diabetes—A 15-Year Follow-up Study [Board No. 160]. Presented at: ADA 2025; June 20-23; Chicago, Illinois. Presentation #160-OR