Grant: Op. Grant: Knowledge Mobilization in Diabetes Prevention and Treatment - General

Big studies in many countries have proven that type 2 diabetes can be prevented in people with prediabetes. The approach involves counseling to help people be more active (like walking half and hour per day), eat in a healthier way (more fruits and vegetables, plant based and lean proteins, less refined carbs, less eating out), and losing around 5% of their weight if they have extra weight (diabetes prevention). Recent studies show that in some people with early diabetes (less than 6 years, not on insulin), diabetes can be reversed through weight loss of around 10% with a low calorie diet with meal replacement products (called diabetes remission). Canadians do not have publicly funded diabetes prevention and remission programs. England has a model that could be adapted to work in Canada. We have networked with the leaders of the program in England. Our team includes researchers who study diabetes prevention and remission, a knowledge mobilizer who assembled stakeholders to lobby for a national diabetes strategy, legal experts, economic analysis experts, health care providers, persons living with type 2 diabetes now in remission, epidemiologists, and biostatisticians. We will perform an analysis of Quebec laws to find out how the government or designated body can use blood test and medication information to figure out who has prediabetes or early diabetes and then invite them to join a program. We will also estimate how many people in different areas of Quebec have prediabetes or early diabetes and how many fewer cases of diabetes there would be if they were offered a program. We will figure out the costs of different options of prevention and remission programs in Quebec. We will put all of this information together and present it to Quebec decision makers, in partnership with Diabetes Quebec. We believe that this will help us move towards funded programs. This will also serve as a guide for other provinces.