Objective-To identify the health beliefs, attitudes, practices and social and family relations important in heart failure treatment among Pacific Islanders.Methods-Four focus groups were convened with 36 Native Hawaiians and Samoans with heart failure and their family caregivers. Thematic data analysis was used to categorize data into four domains: health beliefs and attitudes, preferred health practices, social support systems, and barriers to heart failure care.Results-Common coping styles and emotional experiences of heart failure in this population included avoidance or denial of illness, hopelessness and despair, and reliance on spiritual/religious beliefs as a means of support. Among study participants, more Samoans preferred to be treated by physicians whereas more Native Hawaiians preferred traditional Hawaiian methods of healing. Two types of social support (informational and tangible-instrumental) were identified as important in heart failure care. Barriers to heart failure care included poor knowledge of heart failure, lack of trust in physicians' care, poor physician-patient relations, finances, dietary changes, and competing demands on time.Conclusion-The recruitment, retention, and adherence of Pacific Islanders to heart failure interventions are affected by an array of psychosocial and socio-cultural factors.Practice Implications-Interventions might be improved by offering participants accurate and detailed information about heart failure and its treatment, engaging the extended family in providing necessary supports, and providing tools to facilitate physician-patient relationships, among others, within the context of a larger socio-cultural system.

Weight-loss interventions generally improve lipid profiles and reduce cardiovascular disease risk, but effects are variable and may depend on genetic factors. We performed a genetic association analysis of data from 2,993 participants in the Diabetes Prevention Program to test the hypotheses that a genetic risk score (GRS) based on deleterious alleles at 32 lipid-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms modifies the effects of lifestyle and/or metformin interventions on lipid levels and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) lipoprotein subfraction size and number. Twenty-three loci previously associated with fasting LDL-C, HDL-C, or triglycerides replicated (P = 0.04–1×10−17). Except for total HDL particles (r = −0.03, P = 0.26), all components of the lipid profile correlated with the GRS (partial |r| = 0.07–0.17, P = 5×10−5–1×10−19). The GRS was associated with higher baseline-adjusted 1-year LDL cholesterol levels (β = +0.87, SEE±0.22 mg/dl/allele, P = 8×10−5, P interaction = 0.02) in the lifestyle intervention group, but not in the placebo (β = +0.20, SEE±0.22 mg/dl/allele, P = 0.35) or metformin (β = −0.03, SEE±0.22 mg/dl/allele, P = 0.90; P interaction = 0.64) groups. Similarly, a higher GRS predicted a greater number of baseline-adjusted small LDL particles at 1 year in the lifestyle intervention arm (β = +0.30, SEE±0.012 ln nmol/L/allele, P = 0.01, P interaction = 0.01) but not in the placebo (β = −0.002, SEE±0.008 ln nmol/L/allele, P = 0.74) or metformin (β = +0.013, SEE±0.008 nmol/L/allele, P = 0.12; P interaction = 0.24) groups. Our findings suggest that a high genetic burden confers an adverse lipid profile and predicts attenuated response in LDL-C levels and small LDL particle number to dietary and physical activity interventions aimed at weight loss.

Across the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) follow-up, cumulative diabetes incidence remained lower in the lifestyle compared with the placebo and metformin randomized groups and could not be explained by weight. Collection of self-reported physical activity (PA) (yearly) with cross-sectional objective PA (in follow-up) allowed for examination of PA and its long-term impact on diabetes prevention. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Yearly self-reported PA and diabetes assessment and oral glucose tolerance test results (fasting glucose semiannually) were collected for 3,232 participants with one accelerometry assessment 11-13 years after randomization (n 5 1,793). Mixed models determined PA differences across treatment groups. The association between PA and diabetes incidence was examined using Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS There was a 6% decrease (Cox proportional hazard ratio 0.94 [95% CI 0.92, 0.96]; P < 0.001) in diabetes incidence per 6 MET-h/week increase in time-dependent PA for the entire cohort over an average of 12 years (controlled for age, sex, baseline PA, and weight). The effect of PA was greater (12% decrease) among participants less active at baseline (<7.5 MET-h/week) (n 5 1,338) (0.88 [0.83, 0.93]; P < 0.0001), with stronger findings for lifestyle participants. Lifestyle had higher cumulative PA compared with metformin or placebo (P < 0.0001) and higher accelerometry total minutes per day measured during follow-up (P 5 0.001 and 0.047). All associations remained significant with the addition of weight in the models. CONCLUSIONS PA was inversely related to incident diabetes in the entire cohort across the study, with cross-sectional accelerometry results supporting these findings. This highlights the importance of PA within lifestyle intervention efforts designed to prevent diabetes and urges health care providers to consider both PA and weight when counseling high-risk patients.

The largest private hospital in Hawaii was recently awarded Magnet Recognition, partly due to its exemplary nursing research culture. The hospital fostered and sustained a strong research environment through the establishment of a nursing institute, nursing research council, and, most recently, a nursing research fellowship. The authors describe the fellowship that was designed to educate nurses on the research process and enable nurses to lead research projects.

ImportanceAge-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of blindness with no treatment available for early stages. Retrospective studies have shown an association between metformin and reduced risk of AMD.ObjectiveTo investigate the association between metformin use and age-related macular degeneration (AMD).Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThe Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study is a cross-sectional follow-up phase of a large multicenter randomized clinical trial, Diabetes Prevention Program (1996-2001), to investigate the association of treatment with metformin or an intensive lifestyle modification vs placebo with preventing the onset of type 2 diabetes in a population at high risk for developing diabetes. Participants with retinal imaging at a follow-up visit 16 years posttrial (2017-2019) were included. Analysis took place between October 2019 and May 2022.InterventionsParticipants were randomly distributed between 3 interventional arms: lifestyle, metformin, and placebo.Main Outcomes and MeasuresPrevalence of AMD in the treatment arms.ResultsOf 1592 participants, 514 (32.3%) were in the lifestyle arm, 549 (34.5%) were in the metformin arm, and 529 (33.2%) were in the placebo arm. All 3 arms were balanced for baseline characteristics including age (mean [SD] age at randomization, 49 [9] years), sex (1128 [71%] male), race and ethnicity (784 [49%] White), smoking habits, body mass index, and education level. AMD was identified in 479 participants (30.1%); 229 (14.4%) had early AMD, 218 (13.7%) had intermediate AMD, and 32 (2.0%) had advanced AMD. There was no significant difference in the presence of AMD between the 3 groups: 152 (29.6%) in the lifestyle arm, 165 (30.2%) in the metformin arm, and 162 (30.7%) in the placebo arm. There was also no difference in the distribution of early, intermediate, and advanced AMD between the intervention groups. Mean duration of metformin use was similar for those with and without AMD (mean [SD], 8.0 [9.3] vs 8.5 [9.3] years; P = .69). In the multivariate models, history of smoking was associated with increased risks of AMD (odds ratio, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.05-1.61; P = .02).Conclusions and RelevanceThese data suggest neither metformin nor lifestyle changes initiated for diabetes prevention were associated with the risk of any AMD, with similar results for AMD severity. Duration of metformin use was also not associated with AMD. This analysis does not address the association of metformin with incidence or progression of AMD.