An internet-based diabetes management platform improves team care and outcomes in an urban Latino population
Author Department
Psychiatry
Document Type
Article, Peer-reviewed
Publication Date
4-2015
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
To compare usual diabetes care (UDC) to a comprehensive diabetes care intervention condition (IC) involving an Internet-based "diabetes dashboard" management tool used by clinicians.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS:
We used a parallel-group randomized design. Diabetes nurses, diabetes dietitians, and providers used the diabetes dashboard as a clinical decision support system to deliver a five-visit, 6-month intervention to 199 poorly controlled (HbA1c >7.5% [58 mmol/mol]) Latino type 2 diabetic (T2D) patients (mean age 55 years, 60% female) at urban community health centers. We compared this intervention to an established, in-house UDC program (n = 200) for its impact on blood glucose control and psychosocial outcomes.
RESULTS:
Recruitment and retention rates were 79.0 and 88.5%, respectively. Compared with UDC, more IC patients reached HbA1c targets of <7% (53 mmol/mol; 15.8 vs. 7.0%, respectively, P < 0.01) and <8% (64 mmol/mol; 45.2 vs. 25.3%, respectively, P < 0.001). In multiple linear regression adjusting for baseline HbA1c, adjusted mean ± SE HbA1c at follow-up was significantly lower in the IC compared with the UDC group (P < 0.001; IC 8.4 ± 0.10%; UDC 9.2 ± 0.10%). The results showed lower diabetes distress at follow-up for IC patients (40.4 ± 2.1) as compared with UDC patients (48.3 ± 2.0) (P < 0.01), and also lower social distress (32.2 ± 1.3 vs. 27.2 ± 1.4, P < 0.01). There was a similar, statistically significant (P < 0.01) improvement for both groups in the proportion of patients moving from depressed status at baseline to nondepressed at follow-up (41.8 vs. 40%; no significance between groups).
CONCLUSIONS:
The diabetes dashboard intervention significantly improved diabetes-related outcomes among Latinos with poorly controlled T2D compared with a similar diabetes team condition without access to the diabetes dashboard.
Recommended Citation
Welch G, Zagarins SE, Santiago-Kelly P, Rodriguez Z, Bursell SE, Rosal MC, Gabbay RA. An internet-based diabetes management platform improves team care and outcomes in an urban Latino population. Diabetes Care. 2015 Apr;38(4):561-7.
PMID
25633661