Young adults (YAs) with diabetes mellitus (DM) have a high prevalence of depressed mood, diabetes-related distress (DRD), and competing demands that contribute to uncontrolled DM, especially during the transition from pediatric to adult care. We piloted the Diabetes Collaborative Care for Young Adults (DCCYA) model that incorporates a behavioral health provider during office visits to facilitate care of psychosocial determinants of DM management for YAs with DM after transition to adult care. We determined DCCYA feasibility compared to usual care (UC), defined by visit retention rate, over a 9-month period. YAs with type 1 or type 2 DM were assigned based on whether their initial visit to the adult DM clinic was scheduled with the DCCYA care team (DCCYA, n=16) or not (UC, n=29). Baseline mean HbA1c differed between groups (8.5 ± 2.4% DCCYA vs. 7.1 ± 1.2% UC, p=0.03) but baseline prevalence of mental health disorders, engagement in mental health treatment, and patient-reported outcomes of DRD and depressed mood did not (Table 1). DCCYA patients had more scheduled visits during the 9-month period than UC patients (3.9 ± 1.5 vs. 2.4 ± 1.3, p=0.02). DCCYA mean visit retention rate (0.62 ± 0.24) was comparable to that of UC (0.52 ± 0.36) (p=0.4), demonstrating feasibility. Future studies will aim to assess DCCYA impact on DM care parameters and psychosocial determinants of health in a larger cohort.
J.D. Vakharia: None. M. Theodorakakis: None. C.C.M. Schulte: None. E. O'Donnell: None. D.J. Wexler: Other Relationship; Novo Nordisk.
National Institutes of Health (T32DK007028)
