A short message service (SMS) intervention to prevent diabetes in Chinese professional drivers with pre-diabetes: a pilot single-blinded randomized controlled trial.

Aim: To determine the efficacy of delivering short-message service (SMS) to provide diabetes-related information in reducing the risk of developing diabetes in Chinese professional drivers with pre-diabetes.
Methods: A pilot single-blinded randomized controlled trial was conducted in Hong Kong between 05/2009 and 04/2012. Professional drivers with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) were randomly allocated to either a SMS group receiving messages comprising knowledge and lifestyle modification on diabetes or to a control group with usual care. Primary outcomes were the incidence rate of diabetes mellitus over 12 and 24 months period.
Results: Fifty-four, out of 104 professional drivers recruited, were randomly allocated to intervention group. Fewer subjects developed diabetes at 12 months in intervention group (5.56%) compared to control group (16.00%). Relative risk (RR) of diabetes onset was 0.35 (95%CI: 0.10–1.24) and the number needed to treat (NNT) for preventing one diabetes was 9.57. At 24 months, RR increased to 0.62 (95%CI: 0.24–1.61) with a NNT of 10.58. Logistic regression showed a significant odds ratio of 0.04 (P = 0.021) for intervention group compared to control group at 12-month follow-up for completers and a non-significant odds ratio of 0.34 (P = 0.303) at 24-month follow-up.
Conclusions: The SMS program proved to have potential to reduce the risk of developing diabetes at 12 months but additional measures should be integrated to prevent or delay disease progression.