Cost of a group translation of the Diabetes Prevention Program: Healthy Living Partnerships to Prevent Diabetes.

Abstract

Although numerous studies have translated the Diabetes Prevention Program lifestyle intervention into various settings, no study to date has reported a formal cost analysis. To describe costs associated with the Healthy Living Partnerships to Prevent Diabetes (HELP PD) trial. HELP PD was a 24-month RCT testing the impact of a lifestyle weight-loss intervention administered through a diabetes education program and delivered by community health workers (CHWs) on blood glucose and body weight among prediabetics. In all, 301 participants with prediabetes were randomized in Forsyth County NC. Data reported in these analyses were collected in 2007-2011 and analyzed in 2011-2012. The lifestyle weight-loss group had a 7% weight loss goal achieved and maintained by caloric restriction and increased physical activity. The usual care group received two visits with a registered dietitian and monthly newsletters. Measures are direct medical costs, direct nonmedical costs, and indirect costs over the 2-year study period. Research costs are excluded. The direct medical cost (in 2010 dollars) to identify one participant was $16.85. Direct medical costs per capita for participants in the usual care group were $142 and $850 for lifestyle weight-loss participants. Per capita direct costs of care outside the study were $7454 for the usual care group and $5177 for the lifestyle weight-loss group. Per capita direct nonmedical costs were $12,881 for the usual care group and $13,836 for the lifestyle weight-loss group. The lifestyle weight-loss group in HELP PD cost $850 in direct medical costs for 2 years, compared to $2631 in direct medical costs for the first 2 years of DPP. A community-based translation of the DPP can be delivered effectively and with reduced costs.