Type 2 Diabetes Management Improved Through Telephone Intervention

Telephone intervention for patients with type 2 diabetes saw a reduction in HbA_1c. Telephone advice included information regarding medication adherence, nutrition, and exercise. Medscape reports:

Residents of the Bronx with type 2 diabetes who received telephone advice regarding medication adherence, healthy eating, and physical activity from health educators from their own community, in their own language, saw reductions in HbA_1c comparable to that produced by some pharmaceuticals, a new study in almost 1000 individuals shows.

The findings, which showed the intervention was most effective in those with baseline HbA_1c of greater than 9%, were presented yesterday by Elizabeth A. Walker PhD, RN, CDE, from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, here at the American Diabetes Association 2013 Scientific Sessions.

The key, Dr. Walker told Medscape Medical News, is "that it's behavioral counseling, by telephone, in a voice that sounded familiar, like their neighbor's. It's the problem solving, it's the goal setting — helping people learn behavioral techniques — that's what was delivered to them, and the group that got that lowered their HbA_1c, adjusted, by 0.6%."

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