Improving Patient-centered Care for Diabetes in Bangladesh Through "Dynamic Integration" of Vision Care on the Demand Side

Orbis

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Diabetic Retinopathy (DR); Diabetes Mellitus

Treatments: Other: Education/information of risk; Other: Free eye glasses

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06968611

PIS-DR-DEMAND-2025

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this clinical trial is to determine whether there is an increase in participant uptake of diabetes mellitus (DM) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) services and improved quality of patient-centered diabetic care resulting from the use of automated voice message reminders to sensitize people with DM about the potential for sight loss alongside the provision of free reading glasses.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

1. Will the proportion of patients completing their scheduled DR and DM appointments within 3 weeks of the scheduled date be significantly increased in the group receiving the automated voice messages containing both appointment reminders and messaging about the importance of visit and medication compliance in reducing the risk of vision loss, compared with participant messages which only remind them of their appointments?
2. What is the cost-effectiveness, measured as total intervention cost per additional patient complying with the suggested exam?

Enrollment: 640 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 30+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Diagnosed with DM within the last 6 months
• Over 30 years of age
• Currently treated at the Dinajpur Diabetes Hospital
• Possess a mobile phone to receive voice messages
• Willingness to participate in the study, and ability to give informed consent

Exclusion criteria

• Other significant causes of vision loss
• Medical conditions that could impair compliance with follow-up (such as stroke, dementia, etc.)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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640 participants in 2 patient groups

Control Group: Automated voice message exam reminder only

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants will only receive an automated voice message reminder about the date of exam

Intervention Group: Automated voice message + vision education + free reading glasses at appointment

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will receive an automated voice message reminder about the date of the exam. Additionally, the participant will receive a message underscoring the risk of vision loss from poorly controlled DM, stressing that excellent compliance with visits and medications nearly completely eliminates this risk, and the participant will receive a free pair of reading glasses on first appointment.

Treatment:

Other: Free eye glasses

Other: Education/information of risk