Text messaging cuts new diabetes cases by almost 40% A new study conducted in southeast India has shown that sending mobile text messages is an effective way of preventing the development of type 2 diabetes in at–risk men. Those who received the SMS, 2 to 3 messages sent twice a week for around 2 years, were 36% less likely to develop diabetes. The findings were reported online in Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology by Ambady Ramachandran, MD, of India Diabetes Research Foundation, Chennai, India, and colleagues. Senior author Desmond Johnston, FMedSci, from Imperial College London, United Kingdom, said: "We’ve known for years that you can prevent type 2 diabetes by modifying your lifestyle, but the problem is how to support people to do that. Frequent personal contact with a doctor is effective, but it’s very costly to provide. We’ve shown that you can achieve similar results using mobile phone messaging, which is a very low–7cost solution." The research team screened around 8000 men aged 25 to 55 years working at 10 industrial organizations in southeast India between August 2009 and November 2012. They had to have a body mass index (BMI) of at least 23 and positive family history of diabetes, own a mobile phone, and be able to read and understand text messages in English. 537 participants with impaired glucose tolerance as determined by an oral glucose tolerance test were selected for inclusion in the study. They were randomly assigned to a mobile phone messaging intervention (n = 271) or to standard care (n = 266). At baseline, all of the men received personalized education and motivation regarding healthy lifestyle principles and written information about diet and physical activity; the prescribed lifestyle changes were similar to those used in the IDPP. Texts were designed to prompt physical activity — stating, for example, "Use stairs instead of a lift (elevator)," — and to encourage healthy eating — "Avoid snacks while watching TV, you may overeat." 60 to 80 different messages were created and sent cyclically, so that participants would not be likely to receive the same message in a 6–month period. Participants were assessed every 6 months, and the 2–year follow–up for the study. Just 11 People Need to Receive Texts to Prevent 1 Case …
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 08:38:42 +0000
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