Abstract BACKGROUND: Compared with white persons, African Americans have a great
ID: 3219267 • Letter: A
Question
Abstract BACKGROUND: Compared with white persons, African Americans have a greater incidence of diabetes, decreased control, and higher rates ofmicrovascular complications. A peer mentorship model could be a scalable approach to improving control in this population and reducing disparities in diabetic outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether peer mentors or financial incentives are superior to usual care in helping Afrcan American veterans decrease their hemoglobin AC1c (HbA(1c) levels DESIGN: A 6-month randomized, controlled trial. (ClinicalTrials.gov registration nu NCT01125956) SETTING: Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center PATIENTS: African American veterans aged 50 to 70 years with persistently poor diabetes control. INTERVENTION: 118 patients were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: usual care, a peer mentoring group, and a financial incentives group. Usual care patients were notified of their starting HbA(1c level and recommended goals for HbA(1c Those in the peer mentoring group were assigned a mentor who fomerly had poor glycemic control but now had good control (HbA(1c) level s7.5%). The mentor was asked to talk with the patient at least once per week. Peer mentors were matched by race, sex, and age. Patients in the financial incentive group could earn $100 by decreasing their HbA(1c) level by 1% and S200 by decreasing it by 2% or to an HbAC1c level of 6.5% MEASUREMENTS: Change in HbA(1c level at 6 months RESULTS: Mentors and mentees talked the most in the first month (mean calls, 4; range, 0 to 30), but calls decreased to a mean of 2 calls (range, 0 to 10 by the sixth month. Levels of HbA(lc decreased from 9.9% to 9.8% in the control group, from 9.8% to 8.7% in the peer mentor group, and from 9.5% to 9.1% in the financial incentive group. Mean change in HbA(lc level from baseline to 6 months relative to control was -1.07% (95% CL -1.84% to -0.31%) in the peer mentor group and -0.45% (CI, -1.23% to 0.32%) in the financial incentive group LIMITATION: The study included only veterans and lasted only 6 months CONCLUSION: Peer mentorship improved glucose control in a cohort ofAfrican American veterans with diabetes PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: National Institute on Aging Roybal CenterExplanation / Answer
7. The intervention for African American Veterans with poor diabetes was to randomly select patients and assign them to 3 different groups viz. usual group, peer mentoring group and financial incentives group.
8. 6 months of timing and 118 patients were selected and checked for diabetes.
9. Independent variables are the patients with usual care where they are notified of their starting HBA(1c) levels and their recommended goals for HBA(1c).
10. There are two dependent variables one if the peer mentoring group and another is the financial incentives group.
11. There were no controlled variables.
12. Since the conclusion is found that the peer mentorship on patients of poor diabetes in african american veterans improve the glucose control the infromation can be programmed by implementing this model of peer monitoring on patients.