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                        JeffNEWS, February 21, 1995
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Jefferson Family Will Be Invited to Participate . . .
Jefferson Receives $3.4-Million NIH Grant To Study Diabetes Prevention
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Jefferson has received a five-year, $3.4-million multicenter grant from 
the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Diabetes and 
Digestive and Kidney Diseases to conduct the first large-scale clinical 
study on the prevention of Type II, noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus 
(NIDDM).

NIDDM, the most common form of diabetes, usually starts late in life and 
is particularly prevalent in sedentary and overweight individuals.

The University is one of 23 centers nationwide involved in the study. 
Other east-coast institutions include The Johns Hopkins University and 
Harvard University.

This study marks the first collaborative effort of the chairman of the 
department of medicine of Jefferson Medical College, José‚ F. Caro, MD, and 
the chairman of the department of nursing of the College of Allied Health 
Sciences, Pamela G. Watson, RN, ScD, on a major federally funded study. Ten 
other co-investigators from various Jefferson departments complete the 
research team.

Jefferson is one of only two centers that will enroll their own 
employees in the study, according to principal investigator Dr. Caro, the 
Magee Professor of Medicine.

"One reason for involving employees in our research is that we believe 
there's a great deal of interest here in Type II diabetes prevention. 
That's because we had an exceptional 58-percent response to a 1993 survey 
of employees about their risk of developing this type of diabetes," Dr. 
Caro said.

Indications are that 52 percent of those who returned their completed 
surveys are at risk for Type II diabetes because they had diabetes during 
pregnancy or are overweight. Also at risk are the 45 percent who reported a 
family history of diabetes. 

This summer, the research team will begin to screen interested employees 
having these risk factors to determine those who are appropriate for 
participation in the study.

Dr. Caro's previous research makes him optimistic that diabetes can be 
prevented. He studied a group of vastly overweight patients who lost a 
great deal, but not all, of their excess weight. 

"Our results showed that weight loss can prevent the development of Type 
II diabetes more than 30-fold," he said, "because far fewer patients than 
would be expected later developed diabetes."

"We think this study will have such a positive effect on us all," said 
co-principal investigator, Dr. Watson, who is also professor of 
rehabilitation medicine at JMC. She brings to this endeavor extensive 
background in nursing, rehabilitation, psychology, health promotion and 
research methods.

"The work site is one of the best places to learn about becoming 
healthier and preventing disease because we spend so much of our lives 
here. Sharing what we learn with our families will increase the advantage," 
Dr. Watson said. 

"It's important to prevent as many people as possible from becoming 
diabetics because the problems patients encounter are so serious," she 
said. 

They include blindness, kidney damage, nerve damage, especially in the 
legs and feet, foot ulcers. The cost to our society in terms of lives lost 
is 150,000 annually. Diabetes costs the United States $20 billion each year 
in health care and lost productivity, according to Dr. Watson.


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