Harnessing Human Potential and Improving Health Span in Women and Their Children: a Randomized Controlled Trial and Follow-up (HAPPY STUDY)

The overall goal of this study is to reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and pre-diabetes in Asian women and their children by focusing upon a major high-risk group - women with a history of gestational diabetes (GDM) in Singapore. GDM is diabetes diagnosed for the first-time during pregnancy and has traditionally been considered a benign condition because typically glucose levels return to normal after delivery. Women with pregnancies complicated by GDM often progress to develop T2D later in life.

There is evidence that holistic lifestyle modifications that include strategies to improve dietary intake, physical activity, and mental well-being can prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes. The use of digital health interventions can also assist in the prevention of T2D. However, limited studies have been conducted with Asian populations.

This study aims (1) to identify post-GDM women from large community settings in Singapore and to assess the efficacy of a holistic lifestyle digital intervention (focusing on diet, physical activity, sleep, and mental well-being) on glucose regulation with those identified women.

Secondary objectives are: (a) to examine the potential impacts of the proposed intervention on the health and well-being of subjects' family members (e.g., children); (b) to determine the diabetes risk of the subjects over a 3-year follow-up period; (c) to explore potential economic impacts of the proposed intervention (e.g., healthcare expenditures); (d) to study the importance of gut microbiota and epigenetic factors in relation to changes in glucose metabolism, and (e) to ascertain the safety of the proposed intervention.

The study is a 1-year randomized controlled trial with three years of follow-up. The primary outcomes involved the incidence of Type 2 diabetes confirmed by a 2-hr 75g Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) over a 4-year period. Secondary outcomes are (1) incidence of impaired fasting glucose and impaired glucose tolerance; (b) changes in cardiometabolic variables (e.g., body weight, HbA1c, insulin, blood lipids, blood pressures) in the women; (c) changes in women's body composition; (d) changes in women's mental well-being (e.g., defined by BDI-II, STAI, WHO-5, PSS-4); (e) changes in the health and wellbeing of their children, and (f) a composite of major adverse events (MAE) comprising fatal and non-fatal events associated with Type 2 diabetes.