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Diabetes Program Participants See Sharp Drop In Risk Factors

Rev. James Terrell supports the diabetes initiative at St. Stephens Missionary Baptist Church in Pontiac, one of 70 sites to participate in the program.

Put some faith in your diabetes intervention program and you are likely to see reduced blood pressure, a drop in blood sugar levels and an increase in healthy behaviors. Wayne State University’s Community-Based Diabetes Intervention Program is celebrating the success of its graduates who, on average, have reduced their hemoglobin A_1C levels from 8.1 to 7.4%, and have reduced their blood pressure from 134/80 to 126/70.

“This is a remarkable result,” said Dr. George Grunberger, a Wayne State professor who treats patients with diabetes and recognizes the difficulty in attaining such measurable improvements. “Any intervention, be it lifestyle modification, pharmacological or any combination of the two, that reduces both blood glucose and blood pressure levels has a terrific potential to greatly reduce the cardiovascular risks of diabetes. These results need to be replicated nationwide.”

Diabetes is a difficult disease to manage because it involves stringent behavior restrictions related to diet, exercise, daily monitoring, and self management. The faith-based diabetes program, operated by the Morris J. Hood, Jr. Comprehensive Diabetes Center, has had great success in risk reduction for vulnerable populations, including African Americans and Hispanics.

After getting five shots of insulin a day for many years, this program participant has changed her life and is now insulin-free.

The program provides diabetes education at churches, synagogues, YMCAs and other faith-based institutions. “I think our program works because we offer diabetes education and management within the context of family and community,” said Rosalie Young, PhD, director of community-based research for the Morris Hood diabetes center. “This is more than the presentation of straight medical facts about insulin and glucose monitoring. We recognize that eating is part of a person’s social activity and family customs. We offer culturally sensitive alternatives that don’t force a person to abandon his or her entire social life. You cannot separate food from family settings, social activities, holidays, and fun events. We get the whole family involved whenever possible, and that has made all the difference.”

So far, more than 1,000 people have participated in the program and more than 400 people have completed the full 9-week curriculum that is centered around faith institutions in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties. In addition, more than half of the program graduates are African American and therefore at high risk for diabetes.

A survey at the start of the program found that more than three-quarters of participants had a close relative with diabetes; one-third did not check their blood glucose daily; the average A_1C hemoglobin reading was 8% or higher (up to 6 is normal while under 7% is the current goal under the American Diabetes Association guidelines); more than half were obese; and only one-third engaged in regular physical exercise.

“This is clearly a high-risk population,” said Dr. Young. “But, by the end of the program, graduates are reporting substantial gains in health, reduction in risk factors, and improvement in self-care behaviors.”

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