Balance After Baby Intervention for Women With Recent Gestational Diabetes

Overview

Women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. In our 2012 pilot study we created and tested a web-based lifestyle intervention program adapted from the NIH sponsored Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), modified specifically for women with a recent history of GDM. This program, delivered in the first year postpartum, encouraged weight loss, dietary changes, and physical activity. The purpose of the current study, called Balance After Baby Intervention 2 (BABI-2), is to study a larger group of women with two years of follow-up. We will assess whether women assigned to the intervention group lose more weight and decrease their risk factors for type 2 diabetes. Participants assigned to the BAB lifestyle intervention will receive support from a lifestyle coach and gain access to a website with online presentations that contain healthy eating and physical activity educational tips. Participants assigned to the post-GDM follow-up group will have access to a website containing links to information about diabetes prevention.

The landmark Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) demonstrated that an intensive lifestyle intervention in people with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) could reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes. These findings were consistent, regardless of ethnicity, age, body mass index (BMI), gender. However, the DPP does not have a specific focus on new mothers with a recent history of gestational diabetes. Although there are recommendations that all women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) receive postpartum testing for diabetes and type 2 diabetes risk reduction, study findings suggest that women with a recent history of GDM may be unaware of their risk for future diabetes, and also do not take steps to reduce their risks. The postpartum period is also a time when many changes occur in a woman's life, with competing responsibilities often altering sleep patterns, work schedules, eating patterns, exercise regularity, and time allocation. New mothers may have difficulty engaging in healthy lifestyle programs because of lack of time and energy, and because of competing work and family demands, including child care. In response to the barriers identified in literature and gleaned from the focus groups and informant interviews of a preliminary study (2009p000042), we created a lifestyle/behavioral intervention that utilizes a modified DPP. In 2012 we completed a one year pilot study (2009p002118) to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of the lifestyle/behavioral intervention. The pilot study demonstrated that women in the intervention group lost more weight and were closer to pre-pregnancy weight that the control group. Our goals in Phase 2 of the study are: to gather more data about the effects of the intervention at 12 months; to determine if the greater weight loss observed in the pilot intervention arm at 12 months can be replicated with a larger number of women and maintained at 24 months; and to see whether there is a significant effect on glucose tolerance in the intervention arm at 24 months.