Determinants of hospitalization in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes receiving a peer support intervention and JADE integrated care: the PEARL randomised controlled trial.

backgroundIn a randomized controlled trial of 628 Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes receiving multidisciplinary care in the Joint Asia Diabetes Evaluation (JADE) Progam, 372 were randomized to receive additional telephone-based peer support (Peer Empowerment And Remote communication Linked by information technology, PEARL) intervention. After 12 months, all-cause hospitalization was reduced by half in the PEARL group especially in those with high Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) scores.

methodsWe used stratified analyses, negative binomial regression, and structural equation modelling (SEM) to examine the inter-relationships between emotions, self-management, cardiometabolic risk factors, and hospitalization.

resultsHospitalized patients were older, more likely to have heart or kidney disease, and negative emotions than those without hospitalization. Patients with high DASS score who did not receive peer support had the highest hospitalization rates. After adjustment for confounders, peer support reduced the frequency of hospitalizations by 48% with a relative risk of 0.52 (95% CI 0·35-0·79;

conclusionsIn type 2 diabetes, improvement of negative emotions and peer support reduced hospitalizations, especially in those with comorbidities, in part mediated through improving treatment nonadherence. Integrating peer support is feasible and adds value to multidisciplinary care, augmented by information technology, especially in patients with comorbidities.

trial registrationNCT00950716 Registered July 31, 2009.