Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Diabetes
Date Submitted: Mar 4, 2019
Open Peer Review Period: Mar 5, 2019 - Mar 11, 2019
Date Accepted: Jun 6, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Benefits of the digital diabetes prevention program (Transform) among prediabetic patients: a secondary analysis
ABSTRACT
Background:
The prevalence of diabetes is increasing among adults globally (1). The costs of managing and treating diabetes impose a significant economic and social burden (2). Research has demonstrated that a Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), which focuses on developing and maintaining health-promoting lifestyle modifications, can prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes among at-risk individuals (3, 4). The implementation of a digitally adapted DPP has the potential to prevent prediabetes at a national and global scale by leveraging technology and behavior change science.
Objective:
To investigate the effects of a novel digital therapeutic DPP, Transform, on weight loss, Body Mass Index (BMI), exercise frequency, and work absenteeism.
Methods:
This study was a secondary analysis of retrospective data on prediabetic adults who were enrolled in the Transform DPP. The program incorporates interactive mobile computing, remote monitoring, evidence-based curriculum, behavior tracking tools, health coaching, and online peer support to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes. The analysis included data that was collected at baseline and after four months of the Transform DPP.
Results:
The sample (N=273) included people with prediabetes who completed four months of the Transform program. Participants were 70.3% female with a mean age of 54.01±11.22 years. On average, participants decreased their weight by 13.30 lbs (6.48%) and their BMI by 1.89 kg/m2. . On average, participants increased their exercise frequency by 1.7 days and decreased their work absenteeism by 0.35 day.
Conclusions:
These results suggest that the novel digital therapeutic DPP, Transform, is effective at reducing BMI and weight, increasing exercise frequency, and reducing work absenteeism. The study findings highlight the effectiveness of the Transform program. A prospective, controlled clinical study to validate these findings is warranted. Clinical Trial: NA
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
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