# Heart of the Family: A Cardiovascular Disease and Type 2 Diabetes Risk Reduction Intervention in High-Risk Rural Families

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY · 2024 · $474,601

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Rural populations in the U.S. have disproportionately higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and
type 2 diabetes (T2D) compared to urban populations. Many rural communities also have greater risk factor
burden than urban communities including unhealthier diet, higher rates of physical inactivity, obesity, and
smoking, and higher prevalence of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and hyperglycemia. Compounding
these are poor socioeconomic conditions and limited health resources. Hispanic residents of rural communities
may experience worse CVD and T2D disease and risk burden than non-Hispanic residents due to higher rates
of poverty, lower educational attainment, and greater barriers accessing resources. U.S. Hispanics have
among the highest rates of T2D of any racial or ethnic group. Culturally responsive lifestyle modification
interventions are needed to reduce T2D and CVD risk in rural Hispanic and non-Hispanic populations.
Modification strategies commonly target individuals and, while these may result in behavior change immediate
post-intervention, sustained engagement in healthy behaviors is seldom achieved. Family engagement in
lifestyle interventions may support sustained engagement in healthy behaviors especially in rural and Hispanic
populations that often have greater reliance on family members for social support. We will conduct a
randomized controlled trial to compare the effects of a dyadic intervention, Heart of the Family, to an active
control intervention. We will compare 3-month (short-term) and 12-month (long-term) impact of the Heart of the
Family intervention on biological and behavioral T2D and CVD risk factors and evaluate whether ethnicity
moderates intervention effects. We will also examine how each active intervention dyad member’s
engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviors and level of support for their partner’s engagement in healthy
lifestyle behaviors affects their own and their partner’s outcomes. A family focused intervention may better
support long-term engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviors to reduce T2D and CVD risk among at-risk rural
Hispanics and non-Hispanics. Further, this community-based intervention has significant potential for broad
implementation to successfully address T2D and CVD health disparities across U.S. Hispanic communities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10867508
- **Project number:** 5R01NR019456-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY
- **Principal Investigator:** Gia Mudd
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $474,601
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-09-07 → 2026-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10867508

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10867508, Heart of the Family: A Cardiovascular Disease and Type 2 Diabetes Risk Reduction Intervention in High-Risk Rural Families (5R01NR019456-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10867508. Licensed CC0.

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