Pueblo firm's software helps diabetics manage disease

By John Norton , The Pueblo Chieftain

Monday, February 11, 2008

A Pueblo software company could help doctors and patients do a better job of controlling Type 2 diabetes with a few simple clicks of a mouse.

PHCC, which develops health- related computer programs, provided the software used in a study being published in the next issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Using the program, patients can enter information about their eating and exercise habits and get a customized report that gives their doctor suggestions on how to counsel them and help improve their health.

Jim Christian said his company developed the software under a small-business innovation and research grant from the National Institutes of Health. The University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine worked on the study, using test and control groups that included patients at the Pueblo Community Health Center and Southern Colorado Family Medicine.

Dr. Tim Byers, co-author of the study with Christian and a professor of preventive medicine at UCD said the program can bring substantial benefits with little investment of time.

"This study shows that very brief, time-efficient conversations with patients at the clinic can create important benefits," Byers said. "Patients with diabetes can benefit substantially from even modest changes in physical activity and weight loss. This type of simple computer-assisted behavioral prompt can be especially helpful in helping a patient better manage their diabetes."

The study started with 322 Hispanic patients, a group with high rates of Type 2 diabetes, who were overweight or obese. They were divided into an intervention group, receiving help in setting goals for nutrition and physical activity using the computer program, while a control group received only printed educational material.

By the end of the study, there were still 141 people in the group using the program and 132 in the control group.

Over the 12 months of the study, 32 percent of patients in the intervention group lost six pounds or more, and more than half increased their physical activity. In the control group, only 18 percent lost more than six pounds and only a third improved their activity level.

The report also said the program helped doctors talk with patients about improving their lifestyles at each clinic visit.