MapTrek to Increase Activity Among Patients at Risk for Type 2 Diabetes

Philip Polgreen

Status: Completed

Conditions: Obesity; Pre Diabetes

Treatments: Behavioral: MapTrek; Device: Fitbit

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT03193229

201505733

1R21DK108019-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The overarching objective of our work is to provide an inexpensive and scalable m-health tool to increase both volume and intensity of physical activity and reduce sedentary behavior in patients at risk for type 2 diabetes. The objective of this study is to pilot test MapTrek, a text-messaging based intervention.

Full description

This study will randomize participants to 2 groups, an intervention group that will receive a Fitbit and MapTrek, and a control group that will receive a Fitbit only. This study has 3 specific aims.

Aim 1- To determine if patients randomized to MapTrek walk more than the control patients.

Aim 2- To determine if patients randomized to MapTrek generally walk at a faster pace during the day than control patients.

Aim 3- To determine if patients randomized to MapTrek have less sedentary time during the day than the control patients.

We expect to collect sufficient data to demonstrate the effectiveness of MapTrek, our prototype m-health tool, as an intervention to increase physical activity, heighten intensity of activity, and reduce sedentary behavior among a cohort of patients at risk for type 2 diabetes.

Enrollment: 430 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 21 to 80 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• At least 21 years old
• English speaker
• Have a smart phone with texting and internet capabilities
• No aversion to research studies
• No active mental health conditions
• 1. Have a BMI > or equal to 25 and a history of hemoglobin A1C level between 5.7 and 6.4%, or 2) have a BMI > or equal to 30.

Exclusion criteria

• Pregnancy
• Prisoner status
• Taking insulin or other diabetic medications

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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430 participants in 2 patient groups

MapTrek

Experimental group

Description:

Patients in the intervention group receive a Fitbit and MapTrek, an interactive text-messaging platform. The only equipment needed is a Fitbit (we provide) and a smartphone (required prior to enrollment). Each week, patients are assigned to a virtual walking route. Each day, they receive a text message with a link to the current route. The link will take them to a map where they can see their progress and the progress of others. A leaderboard provides information on how many steps each participant has taken. MapTrek also supports Street View on Google Maps, so patients can explore what they would see if they were in that location. Throughout each race, patients will randomly receive challenge text messages. Completing a challenge awards bonus steps to propel their character along the map.

Treatment:

Behavioral: MapTrek

Device: Fitbit

Fitbit Only

Active Comparator group

Description:

Patients randomized to the control group will receive a Fitbit only. This will allow us to determine if changes in physical activity are due to MapTrek or simply by giving the patients a Fitbit.

Treatment:

Device: Fitbit