Perceived Benefits and Barriers to the Diabetes Prevention Program

Healthy People 2020 Objectives

Healthy People 2020 has several public health objectives aimed at many themes of concern in medical practice such as access to various health care, clinical preventative treatments, and so on. Clinical prevention is critical to reducing the majority of the complications targeted by the Healthy People 2020 goals by increasing the rate of decrease and diagnosis at more curable stages and at lower cost care levels. Many people, adolescents, and children are at danger of deteriorating health and developing serious diseases if clinical health preventative treatments are not offered. Health prevention services are an opportunity to save money, improve quality of care and make it possible to avoid unnecessary test using evidence and science-based prevention programs. There are several leading health indicators that are concerned with clinical health prevention services such as the number of the person who are conclusively found to have diabetes with an A1C value above 9 %( D-5.1) (healthypeople.gov, 2017). The health indicator falls under efforts to curb chronic disease such as diabetes there being evidence that about 18% of persons who are over 18 are diagnosed with diabetes and have an A1C value that was apparently higher than 9% as per the 2005-2008 studies. The target is to get the value below 16.2 percent under the main objective (D.5) of increasing glycemic control for persons diagnosed with diabetes.

Discussion

The Florida Diabetes Prevention Program

The Florida Diabetes Prevention Program is a health prevention program that is designed to further the Healthy People 2020 goal of reducing the severity and prevalence of diabetes and pre-diabetes. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a serious health burden that threatens both life and quality of life for all persons with it or at risk. When one develops type 2 diabetes, they are unable to produce enough insulin while in type 1 none is produced. There has been a lot of evidence on the effectiveness of preventive therapies in prevention and delaying of worse stages of the disease. There is also a high number of people who are at risk, unaware and undiagnosed who comprise about 28 % of the American population (FDAC, 2017). Health prevention practice, therefore, becomes a major influence on health outcomes for diabetes in the nation as it affects 29.1 million paper in the US alone. Prevention and control of DM is an imperative because it is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and a leading cause of serious medical condition such as kidney failure and adult-onset blindness and an economic burden of about $245 billion in 2012 alone.

Primary Prevention Strategies

With increasing numbers of DM cases in the US and the world and the early onset of type 2 DM, there are efforts to provide primary prevention strategies. The Florida DPP focuses primarily on the pre-diabetes stages of diabetes prevention and management. Pre-diabetes is the stage when is yet to develop and be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and is a risk factor for heart complications and stroke. About 86 million American adults are estimated to have pre-diabetes, and 90% are unaware (Johnson, 2016). Persons with pre-diabetes face the problem of having too much blood glucose and or hemoglobin A1C levels that are high but not classifiable as diabetes. The Florida DPP aims at prevention of developing serious complications among individuals with poorly managed precursors to DM and other chronic diseases.

Statistics and Prevention

Statistics indicate that the number of people with A1C and high blood glucose in pre-diabetes stage accounts for 4.9% of the entire population for the person above 18 years but below 44. Many, however, are not aware outside the numbers in clinically diagnosed cases. Research shows that about 10% of Floridians who are above 65 years of age have pre-diabetes and are aware (FDPP, 2017). Once the persons have developed diabetes, their condition is costlier and less manageable is the sixth highest killer of Floridians. There is a significant threat from diabetes and the risk of developing diabetes in Florida as clinical records indicate over 500, 000 hospitalizations and approximately 1.8 million adults living with diabetes in the state. The program evidence base shows that the prevention strategy works at a level where the person increases physical activity and reduces their body weight by about 5-7%. According to the Florida DPP, it is possible to reduce the risk of developing diabetes by 58%. The program was effective with about 71% of participants who were over 60 years with substantial impact on pre-diabetes and developing type 2 diabetes (FDAC, 2017).

Positive Impact on Health Outcomes

The DPP has proven to have a positive impact on health outcomes on the goal focusing on the reduction of diabetes. The program is particularly effective in bringing about lifestyle changes that prevent the development of type 2 diabetes. The program has been found to prevent the early onset of diabetes with program facilitators observing improved health. The program ensures a long-term format that is also flexible by developing behavior change incrementally with reinforcement from peers. With all the participants who started the program overweight and with AC1 and high blood glucose, the program and taking metformin prevented the onset of type 2 diabetes. The program is recognized by the CDC as one that is informed by best practice and built on empirical research on sustainable lifestyle changes (NIH, 2017). The program is a good tool to supplement clinical preventive practices aimed at driving objectives toward the Healthy People 2020 goal on DM. Employers who have applied the program have found out that the program improves the health of employees saving the company over $ 50,000 in five years with a difference of $10,000 annually in cost between employees with and those without diabetes.

Conclusion

The DPP program aims at small but significant changes in the long-term health care of Floridians at high risk of developing diabetes type 2 from pre-diabetes. The program supplements other goals in clinical practice helping patients to avoid developing diabetes. The program contributes to the Healthy People 2020 objectives that target diabetes-related health outcomes such as lower extremity amputations, CVD deaths, and kidney failure. The program aim at achieving the goal to improve quality of life and preserve it by science-based health prevention methods to alleviate the burden of DM. The program delays the onset of DM and prevents the development of pre-diabetes to type 2 diabetes making the occurrence of new cases of DM diagnosed to decline in the population. Without intervention, it is estimated that 15-30% percent of about 1.1 million Floridians will develop type 2 diabetes which is why there are various incentives such as employers and payers helping in the preventive practice to promote their businesses by incentivizing employees to participate in the program (FDPP, 2017).

References

FDAC. (2017). Florida Diabetes Report. FLorida Diabetes Advisory Council.

FDPP. (2017, November 5). About The DPP in Florida. Retrieved from fldiabetesprevention.com: http://fldiabetesprevention.com/about-dpp/

FDPP. (2017, November 5). Employers and Payers Preventing Diabetes is Good for Business. Retrieved from fldiabetesprevention.com: http://fldiabetesprevention.com/employers/

healthypeople.gov. (2017, November 5). Diabetes Objectives. Retrieved from healthypeople.gov: https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/diabetes/objectives

Nicole Johnson, S. T. (2016). Perceived Benefits and Barriers to the Diabetes Prevention Program. The PLAID Journal.

NIH. (2017, November 5). Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP). Retrieved from niddk.nih.gov: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/about-niddk/research-areas/diabetes/diabetes-prevention-program-dpp/Pages/default.aspx