Health Care : Current Reviews

A digitally delivered low-carbohydrate type 2 diabetes self-management program

World Congress & Expo on Healthcare IT and Nursing

August 21-22, 2018 | Paris, France

Charlotte Summers,Arjun Panesar

Diabetes.co.uk, UK

Keynote: Health Care Current Reviews

Abstract:

Background: Type 2 diabetes has serious health consequences including blindness, amputation, stroke, and dementia, and its annual global costs are more than $800 billion. Although typically considered a progressive, nonreversible disease, some researchers and clinicians are now arguing that type 2 diabetes may be effectively treated with a carbohydrate-reduced diet. Objectives: Our objective of this study was to evaluate the one year outcomes of a digitally delivered low carb program (LCP), a nutritionally focused, 10-session educational intervention for glycemic control and weight loss for adults with type 2 diabetes. The program reinforces carbohydrate restriction using behavioral techniques including goal setting, peer support, and behavioral self-monitoring. Methods: The study used a quasi-experimental research design comprised of an open-label, single arm pre- and post-intervention using a sample of convenience. Adults with type 2 diabetes who had joined the program and had a complete baseline dataset were included in the study. We randomly selected participants to be followed for one year (N=1000; mean age 56.1, SD 15.7, years; 59% (593/1000) women; mean HbA1c 7.8, SD 2.1, %; mean body weight 89.6, SD 23.1, kg; taking an average of 1.2 diabetes medications). Results: Of the 1,000 study participants, 708 (70.8%) individuals reported outcomes at 12 months, 672 (67.2%) completed at least 40% of the lessons, and 528 (52.8%) completed all lessons of the program. Of the 743 participants with a starting HbA1c at or above the type 2 diabetes threshold of 6.5%, 195 (26.2%) reduced their HbA1c to below the threshold while taking no glucose-lowering medications or just metformin. Of the participants who were taking at least one hypoglycemic medication at baseline, 40.4% (289/714) reduced one or more of these medications. Almost half (46.4%, 464/1000) of all participants lose at least 5% of their body weight. Overall, glycemic control and weight loss improved, especially for participants who completed all 10 modules of the program. For example, participants with elevated baseline HbA1c (???7.5%) who engaged with all 10 weekly modules reduced their HbA1c from 9.2% to 7.1% (P<.001) and lost an average of 6.9% of their body weight (P<.001). Conclusions: Especially for participants who fully engage, an online program that teaches a carbohydrate reduced diet to adults with type 2 diabetes can be effective for glycemic control, weight loss, and reducing hypoglycemic medications.

Biography :

Charlotte is responsible for the creation and delivery of digital education programs with proven health outcomes and cost savings. With a background in psychology, Charlotte's passion and expertise lie in creating offline accountability and sustainable health behavioral change in a digital age. Arjun has a decade of experience with intelligent health systems and big data. Holding a Masters in Artificial Intelligence from Imperial College London, Arjun's focus is transforming healthcare through empowering patients - through the use of real-world big data and genomics.

E-mail: charlotte@diabetes.co.uk

arj@diabetes.co.uk