HEALTHINESS (Health Inequalities in Diabetes Mellitus)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
HEALTHINESS (Health Inequalities in Diabetes Mellitus): A cross-sectional survey with record linkage in a precision medicine diabetes platform
IRAS ID
341079
Contact name
John Dillon
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Dundee
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 6 months, 31 days
Research summary
In NHS Tayside a precision medicine platform, iDiabetes, is being trialled with the aim of improving diabetes care throughout the population. iDiabetes will compare 3 groups in a cluster randomised study across GP practices in NHS Tayside:
1. Usual care – no input from iDiabetes
2. iDiabetes – promoting current guideline care
3. iDiabetesPlus – “enhanced phenotyping”
Health inequalities are evident in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, with increased risk of complications and poor glycaemic control in lower socio-economic groups and in certain ethnic groups, and increased prevalence of type 2 diabetes in certain groups.
It is hypothesised that the iDiabetes platform will narrow inequalities in outcome by removing subjectivity and inherent bias in an individual’s diabetes treatment. There are concerns in the literature, however, that precision medicine could exacerbate health inequalities.
Study Design: a cross-sectional survey will be used including questions on social determinants of health, health literacy, digital literacy and health related quality of life. This will be administered at enrolment in iDiabetes and the health literacy, digital literacy and quality of life scores will be repeated after one year. The study will be available in digital form and paper copies available on request.
Identification of participants: people registered with SHARE (The Scottish Health Research Register and Biobank) and NRS Diabetes Register residing in NHS Tayside will be approached via email. Potential participants will also be approached at iDiabetes secondary care study visits.
The social determinants of health will be built into a logistic regression model to assess correlation with the clinical outcome measures. Any difference in literacy scores and health literacy will be assessed between the intervention groups.REC name
London - Brent Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/PR/0542
Date of REC Opinion
23 May 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion