The Pitt Retiree Study: A Diabetes Prevention Program for Medicare Eligible Older Adults

The Pitt Retiree Study (PRS) disseminates a novel, yet practical, diabetes prevention program among Medicare eligible adults in Western Pennsylvania. This study will provide 4, and 12 month outcome data (with a no treatment follow-up assessment at 24 months) to help determine whether a continued contact group telephone intervention is feasible and effective in enhancing health outcomes and physical functional ability in high risk adults (aged 65-80) with obesity and cardiometabolic risk factors .

There is substantial evidence that overweight and obesity during late life (≥ 65 years of age) confers significant risk for type 2 diabetes and co-morbid conditions. Thus, there is growing concern about the public health consequences of increased incidence of type 2 diabetes in an aging United States population. Studies with high risk samples have shown that lifestyle interventions significantly reduce diabetes risk and that elders are particularly responsive, showing better weight loss and lower rates of diabetes development in comparison to younger individuals. However, although there have been program dissemination studies with mixed-age adult cohorts, few studies have focused specifically on persons ≥ 65 years of age or addressed the challenges of identifying workable platforms for delivering prevention programs to older adults. This application is based on the premise that offering an evidence-based lifestyle intervention to reduce risk for type 2 diabetes to retirees during the annual Medicare enrollment process presents an innovative, practical opportunity to reach eligible, high-risk adults. If shown to be feasible and effective, this program has strong potential for public health impact and medical cost-containment. Further, although clinical studies have emphasized the importance of continued contact over time in helping individuals extend the benefits of lifestyle interventions, there are no dissemination studies of which we are aware that have systematically documented the impact of continued monthly contacts after the initial intervention period. Thus, the overall aims of this application are to: 1. examine the feasibility and effectiveness of implementing the Group Lifestyle Balance 12-session program (GLB-12), an evidence-supported prevention program to mitigate diabetes risk, as part of the Medicare benefit offered to high risk retirees at a large public university, and; 2. evaluate the utility of continued telephone contact in enhancing treatment outcome at 12-months from baseline. Eligible participants will be 320 adults without diabetes, aged 65-80, with a BMI ≥ 27 and at least one additional cardiometabolic risk factor. All participants will receive the GLB-12 and then will be randomized to one of two continued contact protocols for the remaining one year of intervention, 8-sessions of continued small group contact by telephone (GLB-12 plus 8TC) or a newsletter control condition (GLB-12 plus NC). Program feasibility will be assessed by reporting enrollment, adherence and session completion rates, and satisfaction ratings in this delivery context. Effectiveness of the GLB-12 will be documented by reporting mean percent weight loss and the proportion of participants meeting ≥ 5% weight loss, a commonly accepted benchmark in translation studies known to be associated with favorable cardiometabolic outcomes at month 4. It also is hypothesized that GLB-12 plus 8TC, when compared to GLB-12 plus NC will be associated with more favorable anthropometric (weight, waist), cardiometabolic (glucose, blood pressure, lipid), physical function (chair stand, balance, gait speed) and health related quality of life outcomes at months 12 and 24. Finally, exploratory analyses will document program costs and program impact on medical utilization.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* Men and women, ages 65-80, with a BMI ≥ 27 and at least one of the following additional risk factors will be included: 1) Large waist circumference (\> 40 inches men, \>35 inches women) 2) hypertension or taking hypertension medication; 3) elevated lipids or taking medication for lipids or triglycerides 4) pre-diabetes (fasting glucose ≥ 100 mg/dL and \< 126 mg/DL OR 5) or a score of 15 on the American Diabetes Association (ADA) risk test.

All study participants must have access to a telephone (including appropriate assistive devices if there are hearing impairments) and be able to read at the 6th grade level.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Individuals who report that they have been diagnosed by their doctor with diabetes or that they are taking any medicines used to treat diabetes
* lack of physician clearance for exercise participation before the 4th session
* a weight loss of 4.5 kgs or more in the past six months (to rule out unintentional weight loss that may be an indicator of current or incipient physical illness)
* current use of weight loss medications
* unable to attend at least 75% of the GLB 12-session program or are unwilling to self-monitor food, activity and weight as prescribed will be excluded and encouraged to consider joining in subsequent years.

Excluded individuals are referred to other clinical resources as appropriate.