Individual differences in the effects of the ACTION-PAC intervention: an application of personalized medicine in the prevention and treatment of obesity

Authors

Alena Kuhlemeier, Department of Sociology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Thomas Jaki, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK; MRC Biostatistics Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Elizabeth Yakes Jimenez, Division of Adolescent Health, Department of Pediatrics, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Alberta S. Kong, Division of Adolescent Health, Department of Pediatrics, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Hope Gill, Department of Individual, Family, and Community Education, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Chi Chang, Office of Medical Education Research and Development, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
Ken Resnicow, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Dawn K. Wilson, Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
M Lee Van Horn, Department of Individual, Family, and Community Education, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-1-2022

Abstract

There is an increased interest in the use of personalized medicine approaches in the prevention or treatment of obesity, however, few studies have used these approaches to identify individual differences in treatment effects. The current study demonstrates the use of the predicted individual treatment effects framework to test for individual differences in the effects of the ACTION-PAC intervention, which targeted the treatment and prevention of obesity in a high school setting. We show how methods for personalized medicine can be used to test for significant individual differences in responses to an intervention and we discuss the potential and limitations of these methods. In our example, 25% of students in the preventive intervention, were predicted to have their BMI z-score reduced by 0.39 or greater, while at other end of the spectrum, 25% were predicted to have their BMI z-score increased by 0.09 or more. In this paper, we demonstrate and discuss the process of using methods for personalized medicine with interventions targeting adiposity and discuss the lessons learned from this application. Ultimately, these methods have the potential to be useful for clinicians and clients in choosing between treatment options, however they are limited in their ability to help researchers understand the mechanisms underlying these predictions.

Publisher

Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers

Publication Title

Journal of behavioral medicine

ISSN

1573-3521

Volume

45

Issue

2

First Page

211

Last Page

226

DOI

10.1007/s10865-021-00274-2

Recommended Citation

Kuhlemeier A, Jaki T, Jimenez EY, Kong AS, Gill H, Chang C, Resnicow K, Wilson DK, Van Horn ML. Individual differences in the effects of the ACTION-PAC intervention: an application of personalized medicine in the prevention and treatment of obesity. J Behav Med. 2022 Apr;45(2):211-226. doi: 10.1007/s10865-021-00274-2. Epub 2022 Jan 15. PMID: 35032253.