A Lifestyle Intervention to Delay Early Chronic Kidney Disease in African Americans With Diabetic Kidney Disease: Pre-Post Pilot Study

Background: Behavioral factors, such as lifestyle, have been shown to explain approximately 24% of the excess risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) among African Americans. However, there are limited intervention studies culturally tailored to African Americans with type 2 diabetes mellitus and CKD.

Objective: The main objective of this study was to examine the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a culturally tailored lifestyle intervention among African Americans with type 2 diabetes mellitus and CKD.

Methods: A pre-post design was used to test the feasibility of a lifestyle intervention in 30 African American adults recruited from the Medical University of South Carolina between January 2017 and February 2017. A research nurse delivered the manualized study intervention weekly for 6 weeks. Clinical outcomes (hemoglobin A, blood pressure, and estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR]) were measured at baseline and postintervention. Disease knowledge, self-care, and behavior outcomes were also measured using validated structured questionnaires at baseline and postintervention. Descriptive statistics and effect sizes were calculated to determine clinically important changes from baseline.

Results: Significant pre-post mean differences and decreases were observed for hemoglobin A (mean 0.75%, 95% CI 0.16-1.34; P=.01), total cholesterol (mean 16.38 mg/dL, 95% CI 5.82-26.94; P=.004), low-density lipoprotein (mean 13.73 mg/dL, 95% CI 3.91-23.54; P=.008), and eGFR (mean 6.73 mL/min/1.73m, 95% CI 0.97-12.48; P=.02). Significant pre-post mean differences and increases were observed for CKD self-efficacy (mean -11.15, 95% CI -21.55 to -0.75; P=.03), CKD knowledge (mean -2.62, 95% CI -3.98 to -1.25; P<.001), exercise behavior (mean -1.21, 95% CI -1.96 to -0.46; P=.003), and blood sugar testing (mean -2.15, 95% CI -3.47 to -0.83; P=.003).

Conclusions: This study provides preliminary data for a large-scale appropriately powered randomized controlled trial to examine a culturally tailored lifestyle intervention in African Americans with type 2 diabetes mellitus and CKD in order to improve clinical, knowledge, self-care, and behavior outcomes in this population.