Design and preliminary results of a metropolitan lifestyle intervention program for people with metabolic syndrome in South Korea.

Introduction: The Seoul Metabolic Syndrome Management (SMESY) project, a metropolitan lifestyle intervention program aimed at decreasing the risk of metabolic syndrome to the residents of the city, has recently been implemented in 2011.

Methods: Our target population consisted of residents of Seoul who were 30-64 years old. Subjects visiting a Public Health Center were screened for five risk factors for metabolic syndrome and then divided into three groups according to the number of the risk factors: active counseling, for having more than three risk factors; motivational guide, for having one or two; and information support for having none. Members of the active counseling group, the main target of the project, were provided with monthly in-person counseling on health-related lifestyle choices, as well as a follow-up examination every 3 months during the 12-month program.

Results: In the active counseling group, subjects showed statistically significant improvements in all five risk factors and the average number of retained risk factors decreased from 3.5 to 2.7. However, the percentage of active counseling group members who attended at least 3 out of the 4 sessions provided was only 11.3%. As for the motivational guide group and the information support group, clinically significant improvements were not observed and the percentage of members who attended all sessions were 10.4% and 11.8%, respectively.

Conclusions: Increased public participation for the ongoing project is expected to lead to great positive changes in the health of people with metabolic syndrome.