# Puerto Rican Obesity Intervention for Men

> **NIH NIH R01** · MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN · 2024 · $302,720

## Abstract

Abstract
Overweight and obesity are among the most prevalent and pressing health issues affecting Latino men, with
rates of overweight and obesity among Latino men being 42% and 37%, respectively22. Within this group,
Puerto Rican (PR) men are at especially high risk. In the Hispanic Community Health Study/ Study of Latinos,
the highest rates of obesity were observed among PR men (40.9%)22, and PR men had a high prevalence of
type 2 diabetes (16.2%) and hypercholesterolemia (48.2%)22. Thus, there is an urgent need to address
obesity-related behaviors- such as diet and physical inactivity- in Puerto Rican men. Moreover, developing
culturally tailored obesity interventions that target diet, physical activity and sedentary behavior in Puerto
Ricans has the potential to address a critical public health need and provides a foundation for tailoring and
disseminating future interventions to other cultures. This study has the active support of the Hispanic/Latino
Health Community Advisory Board, the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, The Puerto Rican Agenda, additional
Puerto Rican-centered and Latino organizations and individuals, the RUSH-BMO Institute for Health Equity,
and the NIH-funded University of Chicago- Rush Institute for Translational Medicine. Although telehealth has
been used to increase reach in weight loss interventions with hard-to-reach populations26, 27, few have focused
on men or ethnic minorities8. Moreover, there are no published telehealth weight loss interventions focusing on
healthy eating, physical activity, and sedentary behaviors, specifically targeting Puerto Rican men who are at
high risk for obesity. We therefore propose a proof-of-concept study to determine if a telehealth intervention,
tailored to target Puerto Rican men of varying levels of acculturation, is feasible and acceptable, and if it can
achieve clinically meaningful weight loss. The “TeleSalud Healthy Eating, Physical Activity, and Sedentary
Behavior Intervention” (TeleSalud HE-PA/SB) will consist of 4 months of twice-weekly classes on increasing
healthy eating and physical activity and decreasing sedentary behavior, followed by a 4-month maintenance
healthy eating, physical activity, and sedentary behavior intervention. This intervention will be compared to the
“TeleSalud General Health” intervention, consisting of 4 months of twice weekly telehealth classes on general
health issues, followed by a 4-month general health intervention. We will examine feasibility, acceptability, and
intermediate process measures for diet (energy intake, percent calories from saturated fat, fruit & vegetable
intake via the Block Food Frequency Questionnaire); physical activity/ sedentary behavior (metabolic
equivalent of task (MET)-minutes/week and minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity [MVPA] via the
International Physical Activity Questionnaire and accelerometer-assisted minutes of MVPA); and social
cognitive theory concepts (self-efficacy, outcome expectations, social su...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10916465
- **Project number:** 5R01DK132407-02
- **Recipient organization:** MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN
- **Principal Investigator:** LISA SANCHEZ-JOHNSEN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $302,720
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-01 → 2027-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10916465

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10916465, Puerto Rican Obesity Intervention for Men (5R01DK132407-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-29 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10916465. Licensed CC0.

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