Effects of My Diabetes Care on Patient Outcomes

My Diabetes Care: A Pragmatic, Parallel-design, Randomized Controlled Trial

The purpose of this study is to conduct a two-arm, parallel-design, pragmatic randomized controlled trial of a patient portal intervention for diabetes, My Diabetes Care (MDC), to evaluate its effect on clinical outcomes.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: My Diabetes Care

Detailed Description

484 adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus will be randomized to one of two arms. 242 will be assigned to the intervention (My Diabetes Care) embedded within an existing patient web portal, My Health at Vanderbilt at Vanderbilt University Medical Center or Patient Gateway at Brigham and Women's Hospital. 242 will be assigned to a usual care comparison arm with access currently available version of My Health at Vanderbilt or Patient Gateway without the My Diabetes Care (MDC) application. Potentially eligible patients will be invited to be screened for enrollment in the study. Interested patients will be able to complete an electronic consent form and enroll online via Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap). Outcomes data will be collected from patients at four time points: baseline (T0), three-month follow-up (T1), three-month follow-up (T2), six-month follow-up (T3), and twelve-month follow-up (T4). At each time point, study participants will complete questionnaires electronically via email using REDCap, participants' hemoglobin A1C level will be assess via home A1C test kits, and participants' diabetes health data will be abstracted from their electronic health record. Participants will be randomized to the intervention or control arm after their baseline data is collected.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 458
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Massachusetts
    • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02115
      • Brigham and Women's Hospital
  • Tennessee
    • Nashville, Tennessee, United States, 37232
      • Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
• Age 18-75 years old
• Currently taking at least one medication for diabetes
• Be a patient at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) or Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH)
• Able to speak and read in English or Spanish
• Have reliable access to a smartphone, tablet, or computer with internet access
• Active patient web portal account (My Health at Vanderbilt at VUMC or Patient Gateway at BWH)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Receiving dialysis,
• Pregnant or planning to become pregnant within the next year,
• Living in a long-term care facility.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: My Diabetes Care; Patients have access to an existing patient web portal (i.e., Epic's MyChart) embedded with My Diabetes Care.	Other: My Diabetes Care; My Diabetes Care (MDC) is a multi-faceted patient portal intervention for mobile devices that is designed to help patients better understand their diabetes health data as well as promote and support self-management. MDC uses infographics to facilitate patients' understanding of their diabetes health data (e.g., HbA1c, LDL) and provides literacy level-appropriate and tailored diabetes self-care information.; Other Names: Patient-facing Diabetes Dashboard
No Intervention: Usual Care; Patients will have access to an existing patient web portal (i.e., Epic's MyChart) NOT embedded with My Diabetes Care (i.e., usual care)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Blood Glucose Control	Hemoglobin A1c will assessed using mail-in home HbA1c test kits and participants' most recent hemoglobin A1C will be abstracted from participants' electronic medical record.	Baseline (T0), Three-month Follow-up (T1), Six-month Follow-Up (T2), Twelve-month Follow-up (T3)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Body Mass Index (BMI)	Participants' most recent body mass index (BMI) measurement will be abstracted from participants' electronic medical record.	Baseline (T0), Three-month Follow-up (T1), Six-month Follow-Up (T2), Twelve-month Follow-up (T3)
Change in Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL)	Participants' most recent low density lipoprotein (LDL) measurement will be abstracted from participants' electronic medical record.	Baseline (T0), Three-month Follow-up (T1), Six-month Follow-Up (T2), Twelve-month Follow-up (T3)
Urine Albumin-to-Creatinine Ratio	Participants' most albumin-to-creatinine ratio will be abstracted from participants' electronic medical record.	Baseline (T0), Three-month Follow-up (T1), Six-month Follow-Up (T2), Twelve-month Follow-up (T3)
Change in Blood Pressure Control	Participants' most recent blood pressure measurement will be abstracted from participants' electronic medical record and will be used to calculate the participants' mean arterial pressure (MAP) using the following formula: MAP = diastolic pressure + 1/3(systolic pressure - diastolic pressure).	Baseline (T0), Three-month Follow-up (T1), Six-month Follow-Up (T2), Twelve-month Follow-up (T3)
Change in Diabetes Self-Care (General Diet Adherence)	The Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activity (SDSCA) is a 10-item multidimensional instrument to assess levels of diabetes self-care across five domains: general diet (2 items), specific diet (2 items), exercise (2 items), foot care (2 items), and blood-glucose testing (2 items). The general diet subscale is used to assess general diet adherence. The instrument is based on the self-reported days completing recommended activities during the past 7 days. An example item includes "How many of the last SEVEN DAYS have you followed a healthful eating plan?" The general diet subscale score is the mean number of days for the 2 items in the subscale. The score range is from 0 days (worst) to 7 days (best).	Baseline (T0), Three-month Follow-up (T1), Six-month Follow-Up (T2), Twelve-month Follow-up (T3)
Change in Diabetes Self-Care (Exercise Adherence)	The Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activity (SDSCA) is a 10-item multidimensional instrument to assess levels of diabetes self-care across five domains: general diet (2 items), specific diet (2 items), exercise (2 items), foot care (2 items), and blood-glucose testing (2 items). The exercise subscale is used to assess exercise adherence. The instrument is based on the self-reported days completing recommended activities during the past 7 days. An example item includes "On how many of the last SEVEN DAYS did you participate in at least 30 minutes of physical activity?" The exercise subscale score is the mean number of days for the 2 items in the subscale. The score range is from 0 days (worst) to 7 days (best).	Baseline (T0), Three-month Follow-up (T1), Six-month Follow-Up (T2), Twelve-month Follow-up (T3)
Change in Diabetes Self-Care (Diabetes Medication Adherence)	The Adherence to Refills and Medications Scale-Diabetes (ARMS-D) is a reliable and valid measure of diabetes medication adherence. The 11-item ARMS-D has good internal consistency reliability (α=0.86). Responses range from 1="none of the time" to 4="all of the time," and are summed to produce an overall adherence score ranging from 12-48, with higher scores representing more problems with medication adherence.	Baseline (T0), Three-month Follow-up (T1), Six-month Follow-Up (T2), Twelve-month Follow-up (T3)
Change in Diabetes Self-Care (Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose Adherence)	The Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activity (SDSCA) is a 10-item multidimensional instrument to assess levels of diabetes self-care across five domains: general diet (2 items), specific diet (2 items), exercise (2 items), foot care (2 items), and blood-glucose testing (2 items). The blood-glucose testing subscale is used to assess self-monitoring of blood glucose adherence. The instrument is based on the self-reported days completing recommended activities during the past 7 days. An example item includes "On how many of the last SEVEN DAYS did you test your blood sugar?" The blood-glucose testing subscale is the mean number of days for the 2 items in the subscale. The score range is from 0 days (worst) to 7 days (best).	Baseline (T0), Three-month Follow-up (T1), Six-month Follow-Up (T2), Twelve-month Follow-up (T3)
Usability of MyChart (for Control Group)	The usability of the patient portal (Epic's MyChart) will be assessed using the System Usability Scale (SUS). The SUS is a valid measure of usability and assesses users' perceptions of ease of use, likability of the interface, and overall satisfaction using a 5- point Likert scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree). The ten items are scored on a five-point Likert scale. The item scores are summed and then converted to a score ranging from 0 (worst) to 100 (best). Based on prior research, a score above 68 would be above average and a score of 85 or above suggests excellent usability.	Baseline (T0), Three-month Follow-up (T1), Six-month Follow-Up (T2), Twelve-month Follow-up (T3)
Satisfaction/Usability of My Diabetes Care (for Intervention Group)	The usability of the My Diabetes Care will be assessed using the System Usability Scale (SUS). The SUS is a valid measure of usability and assesses users' perceptions of ease of use, likability of the interface, and overall satisfaction using a 5- point Likert scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree). The ten items are scored on a five-point Likert scale. The item scores are summed and then converted to a score ranging from 0 (worst) to 100 (best). Based on prior research, a score above 68 would be above average and a score of 85 or above suggests excellent usability.	Baseline (T0), Three-month Follow-up (T1), Six-month Follow-Up (T2), Twelve-month Follow-up (T3)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Vanderbilt University Medical Center
• Collaborators: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK); National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: William Martinez, MD, MS, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 6, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 14, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): July 14, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 1, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 6, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): July 11, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): November 13, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 11, 2025
• Last Verified: November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Diabetes; Health Information Technology; Patient Web Portals
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Endocrine System Diseases; Metabolic Diseases; Glucose Metabolism Disorders; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Diabetes Mellitus
• Other Study ID Numbers: 230106; R01DK131129 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: After study results are posted on clinical trials and published in a peer-reviewed journal, de-identified individual participant data that underlie the results reported will be available upon requests made to the principal investigator and ending after 36 months after publication.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Deidentified individual participant data that underlie the results reported will be available after publication in a peer-reviewed journal and posted on clinical trials and ending after 36 months of publication.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Researchers should provide a methodologically sound proposal to achieve their proposed aims. Proposals may be submitted to the principal investigator up to 36 months following publication. To gain access, data requestors will need to sign a data access agreement.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No