Es Mejor Saber: A Proactive Approach to Gestational Diabetes Follow Up

As Los Angeles County + University of Southern California Medical Center (LAC+USC) serves an indigent Latino population at increased risk for developing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) complicated 13% of deliveries at LAC+USC between 2006-2007. While over 50% of GDM patients will develop overt diabetes mellitus within a decade of the incident pregnancy, less than half of these patients ever return for even one post-partum follow up visit at this institution (45%). Lifestyle Interventions and medications have been shown to delay or prevent the onset of T2DM. However, prevention is only possible if patients follow-up and individual risk assessment is made. While identifying the 2-hour glucose tolerance test as the appropriate postpartum screening technique for patients with a history of GDM, the Fifth International Workshop-Conference on Gestational Diabetes Mellitus did not identify strategies to improve follow up among this patient population. Promotoras (bi-lingual, bi-cultural lay community health workers representative of the Latino community base) have been successful in improving follow up for other areas of diabetes and women's preventive services but have not been studies in the context of GDM. We will develop the Es Mejor Saber training materials and program and pilot a randomized control trial (RCT),a total 216 subjects completing a GDM affected pregnancy will be randomized on the postpartum ward to the standard-of-care versus proactive follow-up with a Promotora. The Promotora will provide education, address barriers to follow-up, remind subjects of their appointments, and call them to reschedule if they miss appointments. In the first phase of the study, these appointments will include the OGTT and the initial postpartum visit. In the second phase, these visits will include referrals to internal medicine (for those diagnosed with T2DM) or nutrition counseling (for those found not to have diabetes). The primary hypothesis underlying this proposal is that the introduction of a Promotora providing education and pro-active follow-up into postpartum GDM management will result improve post-partum follow-up for screening, treatment, and preventive services when compared with the standard of care.