Abstract P027: Type 2 Diabetes Status Does nNt Impact Perceived Barriers to Healthy Eating Among Overweight/Obese Hispanic Women

Abstract

Background: Hispanic women are disproportionately affected by cardiometabolic disease risk factors including increased adiposity. Addressing barriers to dietary change is an important strategy for ensuring success of behavioral weight loss interventions. However, perceived barriers to healthy eating among Hispanic women have not been thoroughly studied, and how a type 2 diabetes (T2D) or prediabetes (preD) diagnosis and HbA1c levels are related to those perceptions are unknown. Objective: To examine the association of perceived barriers to healthy eating for weight loss with HbA1c and T2D status among Hispanic women. Methods: Participants (n=197; 86.9±16.6 kg; 36.6±6.5 kg/m 2 ) of De Por Vida , a culturally-tailored weight loss intervention for adult Hispanic women with or at risk for T2D, completed the Barriers to Healthy Eating (BHE) scale at baseline. The BHE scale was translated into Spanish and slightly modified for use with low-literacy participants. Possible BHE scores range from 22 to 110 for the overall scale, from 11 to 55 for the emotions subscale, from 8 to 40 for the daily mechanics subscale, and from 3 to 15 for the social support subscale, with higher scores indicating greater perceived barriers. Participants were categorized based on their baseline HbA1c concentration as follows: at risk for T2D (n=54; HbA1c <5.7% but history of gestational diabetes, hyperlipidemia or hypertension), preD (n=86; HbA1c ≥5.7% but <6.5%) or T2D (n=57; HbA1c ≥6.5%), regardless of diagnosis in the medical record. Results: Among all participants, total BHE score was 65.3±20.7, and scores for the emotions, daily mechanics, and social support subscales were 33.3±11.7, 24.8±8.3, and 7.4±3.2, respectively. HbA1c concentrations were negatively correlated with BHE total (r=-.13; p=.06), emotional (r=-.14; p=.06), and social support scores (r=-.17; p=0.02). When HbA1c was examined as a categorical variable (i.e., T2D status) there were no significant associations with any BHE scale score. Conclusions: In general, participants’ rated their perceived barriers to healthy eating as relatively important problems to their ability to lose weight. There was no evidence that having a preD or T2D diagnosis was associated with their perception of barriers. Given the significant health and economic consequence of a T2D diagnosis, interventions should better address perceived barriers to healthy eating in the preD and T2D population. Funding source: NIH/NIDDK – 1R01DK099277.