Diabetes Risk Education and Communication Trial (DiRECT)

March 3, 2022 updated by: Matthew J O'Brien, Northwestern University

Diabetes Risk Education and Communication Trial (DiRECT)

A large body of research has demonstrated that intensive lifestyle interventions and metformin are effective treatments to prevent or delay diabetes among high-risk adults, yet neither treatment is routinely used in practice. This pilot study will develop and evaluate the Diabetes Risk Education and Communication Trial (DiRECT) intervention, which communicates information about diabetes risk and treatment options for preventing diabetes among primary care patients with prediabetes. Given that 38% of U.S. adults have prediabetes, this project has large potential to impact public health by developing a scalable intervention to promote the use of evidence-based treatments that lower diabetes risk in this population.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Landmark clinical trials have found that intensive lifestyle interventions (ILI) and metformin are safe and effective treatment options for preventing diabetes among adults with prediabetes and overweight/obesity. Despite being included in expert clinical guidelines, these treatments are rarely used in practice and little existing research has focused on approaches for promoting their use.

This novel intervention, delivered by medical assistants before patients' routinely scheduled office visits, consists of the following 3 components intended to promote initiation of ILI and metformin: 1) a prediabetes decision aid focused on diabetes risk and treatment options for preventing diabetes; 2) a "think aloud" exercise; and 3) formulating a preliminary treatment plan. Previous studies report that medical assistants can improve uptake of some preventive health services in primary care, which may also be true for ILI and metformin.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

53

Phase

  • 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
    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60611
        • Northwestern University

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

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Overweight or obesity
  • documentation of prediabetes in medical chart or
  • A1c 5.7-6.4

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Age < 18; individuals who are not yet adults (infants, children, teenagers)
  • Patient's primary care physician did not provide permission to participate in the study
  • Pregnancy status: current or planned pregnancy during study period
  • Serum creatinine >1.4mg/dL in women and >1.5mg/dL in men
  • Patients that are blind, deaf, or otherwise unable to review study materials
  • Prior diagnosis of diabetes mellitus type 1 or type 2 or on antidiabetic medication
  • Diagnosis of post-surgical hypoinsulinemia
  • Diagnosis of dementia
  • Uncontrolled hypertension (≥160/100 mm Hg)
  • No office visit in past 12 months

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 Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: DiRECT
DiRECT consists of the following components that will be delivered by medical assistants before patients' routinely scheduled office visits: 1) a prediabetes decision aid focused on type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk and treatment options for preventing T2D; 2) a 'think aloud' exercise; and 3) formulating a preliminary treatment plan for T2D prevention.
Behavioral: DiRECT
DiRECT participants will meet with a medical assistant (MA) before a routinely scheduled office and formulate a preliminary treatment plan for T2D prevention. Participants will attend their scheduled physician visit, during which they may make a definitive treatment plan to initiate metformin and/or ILI.
Active Comparator: Usual Care (UC)
Participants randomized to standard care will receive routine medical care without the medical assistant delivered DiRECT intervention.
Behavioral: Usual care (UC)
Standard care with routine medical care.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Intent to treat questionnaire: Participant initiation of treatment to intensive lifestyle (ILI) or Metformin
Time Frame: 3 months
The number of participants that initiate ILI, Metformin, or both treatments at follow-up is the primary outcome of the pilot trial, which will be assessed in the following ways. Because initiation of metformin requires a provider prescription, this will be assessed pragmatically using the electronic health record (EHR) and confirmed by participant self-report of taking at least 1 dose. Attendance logs will be used to confirm whether participants attended at least 1 ILI session. Those who received a prescription for metformin but do not take any doses will not be considered to have initiated treatment. Similarly, those who are referred to ILI but do not attend any sessions will not be classified as initiating treatment. Receiving a provider's prescription for metformin or referral for ILI without initiating treatment will be an exploratory outcome.
3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Northwestern University

Collaborators

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Matthew J O'Brien, Assistant professor

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)

November 1, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 17, 2019

Study Completion (Actual)

March 17, 2019

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 22, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 13, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

September 14, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 7, 2022

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 3, 2022

Last Verified

March 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STU00204220
  • R34DK113541 (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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