JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

An estimated 589 million adults were living with diabetes worldwide in 2025, a number projected to increase to approximately one in nine adults by 2045. In Belgium, 7.6% of adults have been diagnosed with diabetes; however, an estimated one in three individuals remains unaware of their condition. Advances in information and communication technologies (ICT) create opportunities to improve chronic disease care, enhance health management, and support communication between healthcare providers and patients. Patient-facing digital interventions, such as reminders and dashboards, may support diabetes monitoring, care processes, and patient engagement. This trial will evaluate the Digital Diabetes Patient Reminder (DIPAR) tool, which combines a reminder function with a patient-facing dashboard visualising diabetes-related and lifestyle parameters.

Objective:

This study aims to evaluate whether implementation of the DIPAR tool improves diabetes monitoring and management by increasing the proportion of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) who receive at least one annual albuminuria measurement, as documented in the electronic medical record (EMR).

Methods:

This single-blind randomized controlled trial will compare the DIPAR intervention in addition to standard care with standard care alone. The primary outcome is the difference between groups in the proportion of patients with documented albuminuria measurements in the EMR over a 12-month follow-up period. Secondary outcomes include documentation of HbA1c, changes in selected clinical parameters (HbA1c, albuminuria, creatinine, estimated glomerular filtration rate, urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, glycaemia, body mass index, and blood pressure), study-specific adverse events, and usability and acceptability of the DIPAR tool as experienced by individuals with T2DM.

Results:

Participant recruitment commenced in October 2025 and was completed in December 2025. The intervention will be delivered over a 12-month period. Baseline data collection will commence following publication of this study protocol.

Conclusions:

This study is expected to provide insights into the potential added value, feasibility, and acceptability of a patient-facing digital reminder tool and dashboard to support monitoring and self-management of T2DM in a real-world healthcare setting. Clinical Trial: This study is registered on the ClinicalTrials.gov website: NCT07257822 and started recruitment on 6th October 2025.