Press Release

For Immediate Release
Contact: Tom Capezzuto
E-mail: capezzta@umdnj.edu
(973) 972-7273

At UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School
UMDNJ Awarded CDC Grant to Gauge Outcomes of Diabetes Care Within Managed Care Settings

The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) has been awarded a $832,652 grant from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to participate in a new five-year study of diabetes care within managed care settings.

The UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School is one of six institutions in the United States to share a $4.2 million CDC grant in a new study known as Translating Research Into Action for Diabetes (TRIAD). Dr. Norman L. Lasser, a professor of medicine at the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, is principal investigator of the study.

The TRIAD project was initiated by the CDC in 1998 to assess the quality of diabetes care and identify the factors that affect quality and outcomes of care. The new TRIAD study continues those objectives and expands the project to accurately examine changes in quality of care during the past five years.

"Our purpose is to try to help the CDC identify interventions that may help people at high risk for diabetes to make the right choices that will help prevent the disease," said Dr. Lasser, a preventive cardiologist. "One of the study's primary components is to develop methods to identify people who do not yet have diabetes but are at high risk of developing this condition."

TRIAD is the largest multi-center study of diabetes and factors affecting quality of care and quality of life for individuals with diabetes. TRIAD includes 12,000 patients who represent a wide cross-section of the U.S. population in terms of age, gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic factors.

The project involves 10 U.S. health plans and 66 provider groups. It is a collaborative effort between the National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA).

"Numerous studies have demonstrated that diabetes care is less than optimal," Dr. Lasser said. "TRIAD combines knowledge and science to bridge the gap between research and practice to significantly improve diabetes care."

The five other institutions involved in the TRIAD study are the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor; the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA); Pacific Health Research Institute in Honolulu, Hawaii; Kaiser Research Foundation Institute in Oakland, Calif.; and the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis.

Approximately 18.2 million people in the U.S. currently have diabetes, according to statistics provided by the CDC. Nearly 95 percent have type 2 diabetes, which is associated with older age, obesity and physical inactivity. It is projected that one in three Americans will develop diabetes during their lifetime. For more information on diabetes and projects such as TRIAD, visit the CDC Web site: http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes or call toll-free: 1-877-CDC-DIAB (232-3422).

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