Feasibility and acceptability of Menopausia, Salud, Corazón (Menopause, Health, Heart): a pilot randomized trial to reduce cardiovascular disease risk in midlife Latinas.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a multicomponent intervention to reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in perimenopausal Latinas.

METHODS

Forty-nine perimenopausal Latinas (age 40-60 y) who spoke Spanish or English were randomized to a multicomponent intervention or waitlist control group. The intervention consisted of 12 weekly sessions (diet education, exercise, and stress management), followed by 3 months of continued support, and 6 months of independent skill maintenance. The primary outcomes were feasibility and acceptability measures, including enrollment and retention rates, intervention attendance, and intervention fidelity. Secondary outcomes included changes in CVD risk factors (eg, anthropometric measures, health behaviors, perceived stress, lipids, glucose, and arterial stiffness) from baseline to 6- and 12-month follow-up. Descriptive statistics, t tests, and χ 2 were used to examine participant characteristics and changes in CVD risk factors.

RESULTS

Twenty-six women were randomly assigned to the intervention group and 23 to the waitlist control, who received the intervention after study completion. The mean age of the participants (n=49) was 47.1 ± 4.5 years, 98% were born outside of the United States, and 61% reported financial strain. Women attended an average of eight (53.3%) intervention sessions, with seven participants (26.7%) attending ≥80% of the intervention sessions. Forty-three participants (87.8%) completed the 6-month assessment, and 79.6% returned for 12-month data collection. At 12 months, 94.6% of participants would recommend the study to a friend or relative.

CONCLUSIONS

This pilot study found that a culturally tailored intervention consisting of diet education, exercise, and stress management may be feasible and acceptable to reduce CVD risk in perimenopausal Latinas.