TITLE:
Efficacy of non-pharmacological interventions in controlling type 2 diabetes in patients of African descent: A systematic review
AUTHORS:
Takira Glasgow, Liz Cheek, Naji Tabet
KEYWORDS:
Diabetes; Education; African Descent; Non-Pharmacological Intervention; HbA1C
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering,
Vol.6 No.5A,
May
28,
2013
ABSTRACT: Purpose: The purpose of this review is to systematically
assess the potential effectiveness of targeted educational and other
non-pharmacological interventions on diabetes control in populations of African
descent in developed countries. Such information can inform intervention
strategies and highlight evidence-based approaches to deal with this
significant problem in this population. Methods: A systematic review and a
meta-analysis of random controlled trials and cohort studies evaluating the
influence of education and other non-pharmacological interventions on HbA1Cconcentrations in patients of African descent with
diabetes. A comprehensive search of PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, ZETOC, SIGLE databases
was carried out. Results: Although nine studies (8 randomised controlled
trials and 1 cohort study) met the inclusion criteria, relevant HbA1Cdata were available for 6 of the
studies for the subsequent meta-analysis. Heterogeneity of meta-analysis was
high (I2 = 92%), the random effects pooled standard mean difference
favoured the intervention -0.66 (-1.15, -0.17), p = 0.009. After sensitivity
analysis, I2 remained moderate to high at 69%. The random effects
pooled standard mean difference continued to favour the intervention -0.48 (-0.81,
-0.16), p = 0.009. Conclusion:
There is evidence supporting the efficacy of educational and other
non-pharmacological interventions in diabetes control in populations of African
descent in English speaking developed countries. This conclusion is tempered by
the significant heterogeneity of selected interventions and paucity of high
quality research in the target population.