Reinforcement Learning in Diabetes Mellitus Trial (REINFORCE)

February 6, 2023 updated by: Julie Lauffenburger, Brigham and Women's Hospital

Optimizing Message Framing for Healthy Habits for Patients With Type 2 Diabetes - Phase II (Pragmatic Trial)

Reinforcement learning is an advanced analytic method that discovers each individual's pattern of responsiveness by observing their actions and then implements a personalized strategy to optimize individuals' behaviors using trial and error. The goal of this pilot study is to develop and test a novel reinforcement learning-enhanced text messaging program to support medication adherence in patients with type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is an optimal condition in which to test this program, as it is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions in the US adult population and requires most patients to be on daily or twice daily doses of medications. This pilot study will be a parallel randomized pragmatic trial comparing medication adherence and clinical outcomes for adults aged 18-84 with type 2 diabetes who are prescribed 1-3 daily oral medications for this disease. Participants will be randomized to one of two arms for the duration of the study period: (1) a reinforcement learning intervention arm with up to daily, tailored text messages based on time-varying treatment-response patterns; or (2) a control arm with up to daily, un-tailored text messages. Our outcomes of interest will be medication adherence, as measured by electronic pill bottles, and HbA1c levels.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

The goal of this pilot study is to develop and test a novel reinforcement learning-enhanced text messaging program to support medication adherence in patients with type 2 diabetes. This pilot study will be a parallel randomized pragmatic trial comparing medication adherence and clinical outcomes for adults aged 18-84 with type 2 diabetes who are prescribed 1-3 daily oral medications for this disease. Participants will be randomized to one of two arms for the duration of the study period: 1) a reinforcement learning intervention arm with up to daily, tailored text messages based on time-varying treatment response patterns, or 2) a control arm with up to daily, untailored text messages. Our outcomes of interest will be medication adherence, as measured by electronic pill bottles, and HbA1c levels.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
60

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02120
        • Brigham and Women's Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 84 years (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion criteria:

  • Age between 18-84 years
  • Diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and are prescribed between 1-3 daily oral medications for this disease
  • Currently have a smartphone with a data plan or WiFi at home
  • HbA1c level ≥7.5%
  • Basic working knowledge of English
  • Willing and able to set up the platform and adhere to study procedures
  • Either not currently using a pillbox or willing to use electronic pill bottles (EDMs) for diabetes medications for the duration of the study

Exclusion criteria:

  • Patients with active enrollment in another diabetes trial within Mass General Brigham
  • Patients who receive daily assistance with taking their medications at home
  • Patients who are unable to receive text messages for more than 3 days in a row during the study period

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: DOUBLE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
EXPERIMENTAL: Reinforcement Learning Intervention Arm
Up to daily, tailored text messages.
Behavioral: Reinforcement Learning
Participants in the intervention arm will receive up to daily, tailored text messages based on their electronic pill bottle-measured adherence. Given the participants' baseline characteristics and time-varying responses to the messages, a reinforcement learning algorithm will deliver different text messages and adapt over time to determine which type of messaging works best for each individual participant.
NO_INTERVENTION: Control Arm
Up to daily, untailored text messages.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Medication Adherence
Time Frame: 6 months
Medication adherence to type 2 diabetes oral medications (averaged) as measured by the number of dates and times of pillbottle openings in the electronic pill bottles
6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Glycemic Control
Time Frame: 6 months
Change in glycated hemoglobin A1c from baseline to end of the 6-month follow-up
6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Brigham and Women's Hospital

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
National Institute on Aging (NIA)

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (ACTUAL)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
February 4, 2021

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
January 4, 2022

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
January 28, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
July 13, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
July 13, 2020

First Posted (ACTUAL)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
July 16, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
February 8, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
February 6, 2023

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
February 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 2020P000846
  • P30AG064199-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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