Prediabetes screening intervention used to promote a lifestyle change program

According to the 2020 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report on diabetes in the United States, an estimated 88 million Americans have prediabetes. A study found that those who were aware that they had prediabetes were more likely to engage in diabetes risk-reducing behaviors. There is no current literature supporting methods to promote a lifestyle change program (LCP), which were proven effective at lowering the risk of prediabetes. We theorized that the results of this study may be used to justify the screening intervention to promote this LCP.

The objective of this study was to describe the impact of a prediabetes risk-screening intervention on (1) increasing awareness of participants' risk of prediabetes and (2) enrollment in the LCP.

The screening intervention consisted of informed consent, preintervention survey, intervention, and postintervention survey. The intervention included the CDC Prediabetes Screening Test, body mass index calculation, and brief risk counseling. Participants who had a CDC Prediabetes Screening Test score lower than 9 were released from counseling and the postintervention survey. Eligible participants were offered enrollment in the LCP. Preintervention and postintervention survey scores were compared using paired t tests, with significance set at P ≤ 0.05.

Of the 53 total participants, 46 screened positive on the CDC Prediabetes Screening Test. Of these 46 participants, 33 met the CDC eligibility requirements for the LCP. Of these 33 participants, 12 enrolled in the LCP, which was the same number as a previous pilot study. Mean survey scores increased from 9.41 to 9.65 out of 10 (P = 0.002). Overall, 89.1% (N = 46) of participants reported that the intervention increased their awareness of the risk of prediabetes.

The prediabetes screening intervention successfully increased awareness of risk of prediabetes, both quantitatively and according to participant report. The intervention led to equivalent enrollment in the LCP as the previous pilot year.