Availability of Evidence-Based Diabetes Programs in U.S. Children's Hospitals

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Health
• Public Health
• Diabetes Management

Background:

• Nonprofit hospitals are mandated to address community health needs.
• Diabetes requires comprehensive interventions across all age groups.
• Children's hospitals play a role in community diabetes prevention and care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate diabetes prevention and care strategies used by children's hospitals.
• To determine the extent of evidence-based strategy adoption in these programs.
• To identify focus areas and gaps in hospital-led diabetes initiatives.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of recent Children's Hospital Needs Assessments.
• Thematic coding of hospital implementation strategies.
• Assessment of program alignment with the Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support (DSMES) framework.

Main Results:

• Only 29 out of 233 U.S. children's hospitals addressed diabetes in community benefit investments.
• Of 130 identified programs, 37% aligned with the DSMES framework.
• Programs primarily focused on prevention, healthy eating, and education, with minimal attention to health disparities, problem-solving, or diabetes technology.

Conclusions:

• Children's hospitals demonstrate limited use of evidence-based programming for diabetes.
• There is a significant gap in addressing health disparities within hospital diabetes initiatives.
• Hospitals are missing opportunities to implement structural, evidence-based approaches to reduce diabetes prevalence and improve glycemic control (A1c).