South Asian Healthy Lifestyle Initiative (SAHELI)

Northwestern University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Cardiovascular Risk Factor

Treatments: Behavioral: South Asian Healthy Lifestyle Initiative (SAHELI)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03336255

STU00204939

Details and patient eligibility

About

Research show that South Asians (SA) have a high burden of Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) risk factors of which, poor diet and physical inactivity remain the major lifestyle risk factors in SA. Intensive diet and physical activity behavioral interventions have been shown to yield improvements across a variety of intermediate cardiovascular health outcomes (blood pressure, cholesterol, glycated hemoglobin, weight) in persons with CVD risk factors and are recommended by national guidelines. However, the investigators prior research found that existing interventions are not reaching SA. First, the usual framing of behavioral risk factor interventions in terms of the biomedical model of CVD is mismatched to SA explanatory models, which emphasize psychosocial causes of CVD. Next, few interventions are tailored to the sociocultural patterns shared by much of the SA community. Interventions that address the individual and shared sociocultural drivers of CVD risk are needed to maximize reach and effectiveness in the high risk and rapidly growing SA population. The proposed study builds on the strong foundation of the South Asian Healthy Lifestyle Initiative (SAHELI), which has a 9-year history of using community-based participatory research to design and test culturally tailored, community-based interventions to reduce CVD disparities in SA. To date, SAHELI has engaged multi-sectoral partners, established relationships of trust, and defined mutually beneficial goals. The investigators also culturally adapted the SAHELI lifestyle intervention to (a) address the individual and sociocultural determinants of CVD risk in SA; and (b) increase components of self-regulation (motivation, self-monitoring, goal setting) that are most effective in eliciting diet and physical activity changes. Hence, the SAHELI intervention integrates evidence-based behavior change techniques with the shared the sociocultural processes salient to SA. A pilot study (n=63) established feasibility of the SAHELI intervention, had a 100% retention rate, and reduced glycated hemoglobin and weight among intervention participants compared to a control group. The proposed study is based on the pilot study and will use a hybrid trial type 1 design to evaluate the clinical effectiveness and implementation potential of the culturally tailored, community-based lifestyle intervention in a larger, more generalizable at-risk SA population. Study team is uniquely positioned to fill a critical gap in work (a) demonstrating the cultural adaptation of evidence-based lifestyle interventions, and (b) evaluating the effectiveness of the SAHELI intervention in reducing CVD risk in SA living in the U.S.

Enrollment: 550 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• South Asian adults (18-65 years)
• Living within the 22 square mile study area
• Ability to understand Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati or English. AND

Body Mass Index of 25 and over and a diagnosis by a doctor of high cholesterol or pre-diabetes/Diabetes, or High blood pressure. OR Body Mass Index of 23 to 24.9 and one clinical risk factors for Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) (CVD risk factors are: Hypertension (Systolic blood pressure >=130 or diastolic blood pressure >=80), abnormal cholesterol (Total cholesterol ≥200, triglycerides >=150),pre-diabetes (A1c between 5.7-6.4%), or diabetes (A1c 6.5 to 10.9),

Exclusion criteria

• History of a CVD event (stroke or heart attack)
• Being on insulin
• Blood pressure ≥180/100 mmHg
• HbA1c ≥11% BMI ≥ 40
• Current pregnancy
• Being ≤ 12 months postpartum
• Any underlying diseases likely to limit lifespan and/or affects ability to exercise.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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550 participants in 2 patient groups

Print Health Education

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants will receive primary care referrals and print health education material about heart disease prevention in the mail.

SAHELI Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will enroll in heart disease prevention group sessions focusing on physical activity, diet, weight, and stress management. Each group will have 16 to 20 participants who will attend 16 weekly, 90 minute group education sessions at Metropolitan Asian Family Services or Skokie Health Department. During each session, participants will watch videos on the day's topic followed by discussion, activities, and assistance in setting realistic goals with attention to physical activity, diet, weight, and stress management.

Treatment:

Behavioral: South Asian Healthy Lifestyle Initiative (SAHELI)