Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS AND VIEWS

Diabetes prevention programme put to the test

Causal evidence shows that referring people who are at risk of developing diabetes to a nationwide lifestyle-change programme can result in health improvements — but only if programme participation can be sustained.
  1. Edward W. Gregg

    1. Edward W. Gregg is in the School of Population Health, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin D02 DH60, Ireland, and the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Naomi Holman

    1. Naomi Holman is in the School of Population Health, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin D02 DH60, Ireland, and the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

For the past seven years, England has taken one of the world’s boldest approaches to the prevention of type 2 diabetes. The National Health Service Diabetes Prevention Programme (NHS DPP) is a community-based, structured lifestyle programme, which offers at least 13 sessions to participants. The programme is designed to help adults at high risk of developing diabetes to improve their diet, increase their physical activity and attain a healthy weight1. Writing in Nature, Lemp et al.2 report a multi-faceted analysis that evaluates how impactful this kind of large-scale intervention really is.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 624, 44-46 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03431-6

References

  1. Valabhji, J. et al. Diabetes Care 43, 152–160 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Lemp, J. M. et al. Nature 624, 138–144 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Knowler, W. C. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 346, 393–403 (2002).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Jonas, D. E. et al. JAMA 326, 744–760 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Wing, R. R. & The Look AHEAD Research Group Obesity 29, 1246–1258 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Wareham, N. J. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 3, 160–161 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Ali, M. K., Echouffo-Tcheugui, J. B. & Williamson, D. F. Health Aff. 31, 67–75 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Sun, H. et al. Diabetes Res. Clin. Pract. 183, 109119 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Ely, E. K. et al. Diabetes Care 40, 1331–1341 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Mudaliar, U. et al. PLoS Med. 13, e1002095 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Cook, T. D. J. Econometrics 142, 636–654 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Spratt, S. E. et al. J. Am. Med. Infor. Assoc. 24, e121–e128 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Bellou, V., Belbasis, L., Tzoulaki, I. & Evangelou, E. PLoS ONE 13, e0194127 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Lingvay, I., Sumithran, P., Cohen, R. V. & le Roux, C. W. Lancet 399, 394–405 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Pittas, A. G. et al. Ann. Intern. Med. 176, 355–363 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Gregg, E. W. et al. Diabetes Care 46, 1316–1326 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links