Diabetes is a chronic medical condition that leads to higher-than-normal blood glucose levels in the body. This may lead to several complications including heart attacks, strokes, kidney damage, vision loss, and loss of limb. The rates of diabetes are rising globally and in Canada. With more advanced diagnostic tests we are now able to identify people with prediabetes and mild stages of diabetes. However, it is not clear if treating people prediabetes and mild diabetes with anti-diabetes medications reduces their risk of worse outcomes related to diabetes. It is important to know if treating people with prediabetes and mild diabetes helps them avoid the complications of diabetes, or exposes them to more medication side-effects and psychological harms associated with overdiagnosis.

In this study we propose to understand better how people with prediabetes and mild diabetes should be treated. We will interview people with lived experience of prediabetes and mild diabetes, and health care providers to understand how the diagnosis is made, managed, and the impacts of the diagnosis and associated additional monitoring. We will use data sets from Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario to identify newly diagnosed adult individuals and evaluate their health outcomes over the course of seven years. We will seek to understand how those outcomes were impacted or not by the initiation of anti-diabetic medications.

If funded, we hope to engage patient research partners to lead the creation of a patient advisory council to inform and help guide the research project design and processes. This will include understanding patient perspectives and needs, providing input and feedback on the conduct of administrative data base studies, and help with downstream knowledge translation and implementation strategies and efforts.

We would like to recruit a patient research partner from Alberta to join our patient research partners from BC and Ontario on this grant application.

If the project becomes funded these 3 patient partners, working with the rest of research team and SPOR partners,  would lead the development of a patient advisory council. The role would include identifying additional patient partners for the council, co-creating agendas, chairing meetings, etc. Patient advisory council members will also be offered training and opportunity to collaborate on additional aspects of the project including conducting qualitative interviews, design of qualitative analyses, and informing and supporting knowledge translation and dissemination.

If funded, this 3-year  project would begin in April 2023. We anticipate monthly online council meetings of around 90 minutes each, plus additional time required for preparation of meetings and additional feedback opportunities for those interested and available.

If funded, patient partners will be offered compensation for their time and essential collaboration on this project.

This opportunity is anticipated to be online only. Reimbursement will be offered for any direct out-of-pocket expenses associated with contributing including parking, travel, etc.