NHS programme linked to 20% cut in Type 2 Diabetes risk

[Amity Island]

An NHS behaviour-change programme has been linked to a reduction in the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes in adults with raised blood sugars.

New research, funded by the NIHR, has shown patients referred to the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP) saw their risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes cut by 20%.

Data from more than 2,000 GP practices was examined by researchers from the University of Manchester. They compared 18,470 patients with pre-diabetes taking part in NDPP, with 51,331 patients not referred to the programme.

Their analysis showed the chance of becoming Type 2 Diabetic after 36 months was 12.7% for those referred to the NDPP. For those not referred, it was 15.4%.

NHS programme linked to 20% cut in Type 2 Diabetes risk

An NHS behaviour-change programme has been linked to a reduction in the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes in adults with raised blood sugars, NIHR-funded research shows.

www.nihr.ac.uk

 

[Robin]

This is one of those cases where the statistics sound good or bad depending what's quoted. The headline '20% cut' sounds great, but 'reduction in risk from 15.4% to 12.7%' sounds hardly anything at all.

 

[Docb]

Yup @Robin and you know my opinion of the value of most of the numbers quoted by press releases. As soon as a risk is reported as a % you have got to raise an eyebrow. Serious people report risk as a probability in the range 0 to 1 so that the resultant number can be used without ambiguity.

 

[Burylancs]

This is one of those cases where the statistics sound good or bad depending what's quoted. The headline '20% cut' sounds great, but 'reduction in risk from 15.4% to 12.7%' sounds hardly anything at all.

And it was only upto 3 years, what happens after 3 years ? And was the intervention a one off course or did it last the 3 years continuously ? There seemed to be some disparity in the study groups, 51,000 in the Control Group and only 18,000 in the Intervention Group.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

And it was only upto 3 years, what happens after 3 years ? And was the intervention a one off course or did it last the 3 years continuously ? There seemed to be some disparity in the study groups, 51,000 in the Control Group and only 18,000 in the Intervention Group.

It's an observational study, so I guess finding lots of people who weren't referred was quite easy.

Referral to the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme and conversion from nondiabetic hyperglycaemia to type 2 diabetes mellitus in England: A matched cohort analysis

Rathi Ravindrarajah and colleagues investigate whether referral to the NHS Healthier You Diabetes Prevention Programme was associated with reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes in at-risk patients attending primary care in England.

journals.plos.org

 

[Burylancs]

It's an observational study, so I guess finding lots of people who weren't referred was quite easy.

Referral to the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme and conversion from nondiabetic hyperglycaemia to type 2 diabetes mellitus in England: A matched cohort analysis

Rathi Ravindrarajah and colleagues investigate whether referral to the NHS Healthier You Diabetes Prevention Programme was associated with reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes in at-risk patients attending primary care in England.

journals.plos.org

And presumably the people who were referred were a self-selecting group of folks wanting to do something about it and prepared to work at Control..

 

[Bruce Stephens]

And presumably the people who were referred were a self-selecting group of folks wanting to do something about it and prepared to work at Control..

As usual they tried to find a matched set of controls, but I'm sure that skews things.