Low Indexes of Metabolism - Information to Teams (LIMIT) (LIMIT)
Primary Purpose
Weight Loss, Thinness, Malnutrition
Status
Completed
Phase
Not Applicable
Locations
Study Type
Interventional
Intervention
Email
Sponsored by
About this trial
This is an interventional treatment trial for Weight Loss focused on measuring Hypocholesterolemia, Frail Elderly, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Cholesterol, Clinical Laboratory Information Systems, Hemoglobin A, Glycosylated, diet therapy, Anticholesteremic Agents, Health Services for the Aged, Hypoglycemic Agents, Hypoglycemia
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
- All found by computerized search in the data base of Clalit Health Services North and South districts:
- 1. A drop in BMI of 2 Kg/m^2 or more during previous two years AND
- BMI less than 23 Kg/m^2 AND
- No dietitian counseling during previous year
- OR
- 2. Last HbA1c% level of 6.5% or less AND
- dispensing anti-diabetic medicines during previous 2 months
- OR
- 3. Last total cholesterol less than 160 mg/dL AND
- dispensing cholesterol-lowering medicines during previous 2 months
Exclusion Criteria:
- Patients whose their primary doctor and nurse email address is unobtainable
- For criterion 3: Patients diagnosed to have had a myocardial infarction, an ischemic heart disease, a transient ischemic attack or an ischemic stroke.
Sites / Locations
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Arm Type
Experimental
No Intervention
Arm Label
Intervention Email
Control
Arm Description
An email is sent, alerting the primary care providers about low values of BMI, HbA1c% or cholesterol and advising to consider appropriate dietary and medical revision.
No email is sent.
Outcomes
Primary Outcome Measures
Death From Any Cause
Impact on overall-survival
Secondary Outcome Measures
Impact on Evaluation Rate
Percentage of patients evaluated by a nurse and counseled by a dietitian
Impact on Medical Costs
Medical expenses to the medical insurer, including hospitalizations, consultations, examinations, devices and medicines.
Impact on a Composite Measure of Medical Treatment
A composite measure of doses of prescribed anti-diabetic and cholesterol-lowering medicines - According to relevant alert by email.
Full Information
1. Study Identification
Unique Protocol Identification Number
NCT02476578
Brief Title
Low Indexes of Metabolism - Information to Teams (LIMIT)
Acronym
LIMIT
Official Title
Sending Advisory Electronic Mail to Primary Care Staff, Addressing Low Metabolic Measures: Assessing the Health Outcomes for Patients Above Age 75
Study Type
Interventional
2. Study Status
Record Verification Date
March 2020
Overall Recruitment Status
Completed
Study Start Date
October 2015 (undefined)
Primary Completion Date
November 2016 (Actual)
Study Completion Date
November 2016 (Actual)
3. Sponsor/Collaborators
Responsible Party, by Official Title
Principal Investigator
Name of the Sponsor
Clalit Health Services
4. Oversight
Data Monitoring Committee
No
5. Study Description
Brief Summary
The purpose of this study is to determine whether alerting primary care providers by email about low values of BMI, HbA1c% or cholesterol will affect treatment and improve overall survival and other health indexes of people older than 75 years.
Detailed Description
Scientific background
Interventions aimed to ameliorate malnutrition are important for elderly health and include dietary counseling and discontinuing unnecessary medicines.
Emailing an alert regarding low BMI was found to improve dietary counseling numbers.
Correlation between death and HbA1c% is U-shaped, with increased mortality under a 6.5% level in patients taking two anti-diabetic medicines. Sending an email alert regarding an over-tight control of diabetes was followed by a reduction in mortality.
Death and cholesterol correlation is also U-shaped, with increased mortality and morbidity under 160 mg%. The investigator found no interventional study for this situation.
Objectives
To check whether alerting the primary care providers by email, about low values of BMI, HbA1c% or cholesterol will affect treatment and improve health indexes of people older than 75 years.
Working hypotheses
During a year, and relative to the control group, intervention emails may result in the following:
A decrease in mortality.
An increase in dietary counseling percentage and a decrease in prescribing anti-diabetic and cholesterol-lowering medicines.
A decrease in medical expenses and in other morbidity indexes.
Type of research and methods of data collection
This randomized controlled trial will be conducted entirely through the existing computer system. The participants (patients) will be assigned to the two Arms/Groups "Intervention Email" and "Control". It has three separate interventions: a. Alerting about a significant drop in BMI. b. Alerting about a low HbA1c% level in patients taking anti-diabetics. c. Alerting about a low cholesterol level in patients taking cholesterol-lowering medicines. The alerts will be sent to the primary clinicians.
Method(s) of data analysis
Differences between intervention groups and control groups will be analyzed using Chi-square test (or Fishers' exact test) for categorical variables and using T-test (or Two-sample Wilcoxon test) for continuous variables.
Uniqueness and relevance
Health service policy regarding signs of malnutrition and excessive medicinal treatment needs a relevant scientific knowledge base. Nutritional counseling and revision of medicinal treatment may dramatically affect health. This research deals with questions that have no commercial interest, but are important to the public.
6. Conditions and Keywords
Primary Disease or Condition Being Studied in the Trial, or the Focus of the Study
Weight Loss, Thinness, Malnutrition
Keywords
Hypocholesterolemia, Frail Elderly, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Cholesterol, Clinical Laboratory Information Systems, Hemoglobin A, Glycosylated, diet therapy, Anticholesteremic Agents, Health Services for the Aged, Hypoglycemic Agents, Hypoglycemia
7. Study Design
Primary Purpose
Treatment
Study Phase
Not Applicable
Interventional Study Model
Parallel Assignment
Masking
None (Open Label)
Allocation
Randomized
Enrollment
8584 (Actual)
8. Arms, Groups, and Interventions
Arm Title
Intervention Email
Arm Type
Experimental
Arm Description
An email is sent, alerting the primary care providers about low values of BMI, HbA1c% or cholesterol and advising to consider appropriate dietary and medical revision.
Arm Title
Control
Arm Type
No Intervention
Arm Description
No email is sent.
Intervention Type
Other
Intervention Name(s)
Email
Other Intervention Name(s)
"Dry Counseling"
Intervention Description
Automated Email to the primary doctor and nurse, with the details of the patient, the condition found and the relevant measures to consider.
Primary Outcome Measure Information:
Title
Death From Any Cause
Description
Impact on overall-survival
Time Frame
1 year
Secondary Outcome Measure Information:
Title
Impact on Evaluation Rate
Description
Percentage of patients evaluated by a nurse and counseled by a dietitian
Time Frame
1 year
Title
Impact on Medical Costs
Description
Medical expenses to the medical insurer, including hospitalizations, consultations, examinations, devices and medicines.
Time Frame
1 year
Title
Impact on a Composite Measure of Medical Treatment
Description
A composite measure of doses of prescribed anti-diabetic and cholesterol-lowering medicines - According to relevant alert by email.
Time Frame
1 year
10. Eligibility
Sex
All
Minimum Age & Unit of Time
75 Years
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
All found by computerized search in the data base of Clalit Health Services North and South districts:
1. A drop in BMI of 2 Kg/m^2 or more during previous two years AND
BMI less than 23 Kg/m^2 AND
No dietitian counseling during previous year
OR
2. Last HbA1c% level of 6.5% or less AND
dispensing anti-diabetic medicines during previous 2 months
OR
3. Last total cholesterol less than 160 mg/dL AND
dispensing cholesterol-lowering medicines during previous 2 months
Exclusion Criteria:
Patients whose their primary doctor and nurse email address is unobtainable
For criterion 3: Patients diagnosed to have had a myocardial infarction, an ischemic heart disease, a transient ischemic attack or an ischemic stroke.
Overall Study Officials:
First Name & Middle Initial & Last Name & Degree
Nir Tsabar, MD/PhD
Organizational Affiliation
ClalitHS North District Principal Geriatrist
Official's Role
Principal Investigator
12. IPD Sharing Statement
Plan to Share IPD
Yes
IPD Sharing Plan Description
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request to email nir.tsabar@clalit.org.il. Shared data will not include exact dates, exact lab results or any data that might expose the identity of patients. Also, commercial data such as drug brands or costs may not be shared.
IPD Sharing Time Frame
After publishing the results in a peer reviewed journal.
IPD Sharing Access Criteria
Any clinical researcher; Any ethically approved clinical research
Citations:
PubMed Identifier
23280227
Citation
Flegal KM, Kit BK, Orpana H, Graubard BI. Association of all-cause mortality with overweight and obesity using standard body mass index categories: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA. 2013 Jan 2;309(1):71-82. doi: 10.1001/jama.2012.113905.
Results Reference
background
PubMed Identifier
25277380
Citation
Giovannelli J, Coevoet V, Vasseur C, Gheysens A, Basse B, Houyengah F. How can screening for malnutrition among hospitalized patients be improved? An automatic e-mail alert system when admitting previously malnourished patients. Clin Nutr. 2015 Oct;34(5):868-73. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2014.09.008. Epub 2014 Sep 18.
Results Reference
background
PubMed Identifier
7586337
Citation
Iribarren C, Reed DM, Chen R, Yano K, Dwyer JH. Low serum cholesterol and mortality. Which is the cause and which is the effect? Circulation. 1995 Nov 1;92(9):2396-403. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.92.9.2396.
Results Reference
background
PubMed Identifier
20110121
Citation
Currie CJ, Peters JR, Tynan A, Evans M, Heine RJ, Bracco OL, Zagar T, Poole CD. Survival as a function of HbA(1c) in people with type 2 diabetes: a retrospective cohort study. Lancet. 2010 Feb 6;375(9713):481-9. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61969-3. Epub 2010 Jan 26.
Results Reference
background
PubMed Identifier
31588026
Citation
Tsabar N, Press Y, Rotman J, Klein B, Grossman Y, Vainshtein-Tal M, Eilat-Tsanani S. A Randomized Trial of Alerting to Low Glycated Hemoglobin Level in Older Adults: Results of the Low Indexes of Metabolism Intervention Trial B (LIMIT-B). J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2020 Feb;21(2):277-280.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2019.08.004. Epub 2019 Oct 3.
Results Reference
result
PubMed Identifier
31610995
Citation
Tsabar N, Press Y, Rotman J, Klein B, Grossman Y, Vainshtein-Tal M, Eilat-Tsanani S. A Randomized Trial of Alerting to Hypocholesterolemia Results of the Low Indexes of Metabolism Intervention Trial-C (LIMIT-C). J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2020 Mar;21(3):410-414. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2019.08.018. Epub 2019 Oct 12.
Results Reference
result
PubMed Identifier
32064727
Citation
Tsabar N, Press Y, Rotman J, Klein B, Grossman Y, Vainshtein-Tal M, Eilat-Tsanani S. Randomized trial results of alerting primary clinicians to severe weight loss among older adults in the Low Indexes of Metabolism Intervention Trial part A. Geriatr Gerontol Int. 2020 Apr;20(4):329-335. doi: 10.1111/ggi.13888. Epub 2020 Feb 16.
Results Reference
result
PubMed Identifier
29301522
Citation
Tsabar N, Press Y, Rotman J, Klein B, Grossman Y, Vainshtein-Tal M, Eilat-Tsanani S. The low indexes of metabolism intervention trial (LIMIT): design and baseline data of a randomized controlled clinical trial to evaluate how alerting primary care teams to low metabolic values, could affect the health of patients aged 75 or older. BMC Health Serv Res. 2018 Jan 5;18(1):4. doi: 10.1186/s12913-017-2812-0.
Results Reference
derived
Links:
URL
http://www.health.gov.il/Publicationsfiles/qindicatorsReport2008-2010.pdf
Description
Israel National Program for Quality Indicators in Community Healthcare
Available IPD and Supporting Information:
Available IPD/Information Type
Study Protocol
Available IPD/Information URL
https://goo.gl/B6j1oF
Available IPD/Information Comments
LIMIT HEBREW PROTOCOL Version 3 (Final)
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Low Indexes of Metabolism - Information to Teams (LIMIT)
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