Resumen: BACKGROUND: The clinical and economic burden of type 2 diabetes mellitus on society is rising. Effective and efficient preventive measures may stop the increasing prevalence, given that type 2 diabetes mellitus is mainly a lifestyle-driven disease. The Feel4Diabetes-study aimed to tackle unhealthy lifestyle (unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and excess weight) of families with a child in the first grades of elementary school. These schools were located in regions with a relatively low socio-economic status in Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Hungary and Spain. Special attention was paid to families with a high risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus. METHODS: The aim of this paper is to describe the detailed methodology of the intervention''s cost-effectiveness analysis. Based on the health economic evaluation of the Toybox-study, both a decision analytic part and a Markov model have been designed to assess the long-term (time horizon of 70¿year with one-year¿cycles) intervention''s value for money. Data sources used for the calculation of health state incidences, transition probabilities between health states, health state costs, and health state utilities are listed. Intervention-related costs were collected by questionnaires and diaries, and attributed to either all families or high risk families only. CONCLUSIONS: The optimal use of limited resources is pivotal. The future results of the health economic evaluation of the Feel4Diabetes-study will contribute to the efficient use of those resources. Idioma: Inglés DOI: 10.1186/s12902-019-0471-3 Año: 2020 Publicado en: BMC endocrine disorders 20, Supl 1 (2020), 14 [11 pp.] ISSN: 1472-6823 Factor impacto JCR: 2.763 (2020) Categ. JCR: ENDOCRINOLOGY & METABOLISM rank: 110 / 145 = 0.759 (2020) - Q4 - T3 Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 0.743 - Medicine (miscellaneous) (Q2) - Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism (Q2)