Without intervention, 15 to 30 percent of your patients with prediabetes will progress to type 2 diabetes within five years. Translation: Over the next five years, a typical large clinical practice could experience a 32 percent increase in the number of patients with diabetes.
Are you still unsure about engaging with a diabetes prevention program (DPP) to prevent type 2 diabetes in your patients? Study results recently published in Diabetes Care, a journal of the American Diabetes Association, may encourage you to reconsider.
The study examined the first four years of the National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP) and how effective structured lifestyle change programs were for participants diagnosed with prediabetes or at high risk for type 2 diabetes. The program goal is to have participants lose a minimum of 5 percent body weight in six months, with an additional six months of maintenance.
A 2002 DPP research study serves as the yardstick to measure participants' progress. That study showed that adults ages 18 and older at high risk for diabetes who lost 5 to 7 percent of their body weight experienced a 58 percent risk reduction for type 2 diabetes. Those 60 years and older experienced a 71 percent reduction.
Early results reveal that NDPP participants experienced a higher percentage of body weight loss overall and a moderate increase in physical activity, which help lower their risk for type 2 diabetes.
Proof Is In The Numbers
Researchers used data from nearly 15,000 adults at high risk for type 2 diabetes. All were enrolled in yearlong Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-recognized DPPs across 220 organizations in 40 states and the District of Columbia.
Participants attended a series of sessions with trained lifestyle coaches who offered incremental feedback on how to optimize behavioral changes.
Examination of the data concluded that the higher percentage of weight loss and improved physical activity could be attributed to greater duration and intensity of session attendance.
Successful participants attended at least 17 sessions and met the minimum goal of 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity each week. Overall, nearly 36 percent achieved the 5 percent weight loss goal.
Weight loss generally increased as the number of sessions attended increased. For every additional session participants attended and every 30 minutes of activity reported, they lost an average of 0.31% of body weight.
Study results indicate that participation in NDPPs across a large number of delivery organizations proves successful.
National DPPs Ease Clinical Burden Of Prediabetes
Since prediabetes is a reversible condition, the National DPP is an evidence-based tool that can help your patients lower their risk of developing type 2 diabetes, reducing the likelihood of illness, use of medication to control the disease and medical expense associated with the disease.
"Those with diabetes are 100 percent more likely to develop hypertension, 80 percent more likely to be hospitalized for heart attack and 70 percent more likely to die from heart disease or stroke," said MSMS President Cheryl Gibson Fountain, MD.
Three years after program completion the clinical impact of the National DPP includes:
- 15 fewer new cases of diabetes
- 8 fewer patients using anti-hypertensive medication
- 4 fewer patients using anti-lipid medication
Participation in this lifestyle change program after a three-year follow-up was also nearly twice as effective as metformin showing a 31 percent risk reduction.
In addition to the health benefits to patients, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also acknowledged that the NDPP model offers cost savings and better quality patient care.
According to the American Diabetes Association, estimated direct medical costs for diabetes in 2012 was $176 billion. However savings for Medicare are estimated to be $2,650 per Medicare beneficiary that participates in a National DPP.
"By working with an National DPP, physicians have ready access to a program designed to prevent and/or delay type 2 diabetes, can offer better care with an evidence-based program and can produce better outcomes that lower costs," said Doctor Gibson Fountain.
Connecting with a National DPP in your Community