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Chebrolu P, Chalem A, Ponticiello M, Broderick K, Vaidyanathan A, Lorenc R, Kulkarni V, Onawale A, Mathad JS, Sundararajan R. A community health worker-led program to improve access to gestational diabetes screening in urban slums of Pune, India: Results from a mixed methods study. PLOS Glob Public Health 2023; 3:e0001622. [PMID: 37889879 PMCID: PMC10610081 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0001622] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2023] [Accepted: 09/14/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023]
Abstract
The World Health Organization recommends all pregnant women receive screening for gestational diabetes (GDM) with a fasting oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). However, very few women receive recommended screening in resource-limited countries like India. We implemented a community health worker (CHW)-delivered program to evaluate if home-based, CHW-delivered OGTT would increase GDM screening in a low-resource setting. We conducted a mixed methods study in two urban slum communities in Pune, India. CHWs were trained to deliver home-based, point-of-care fasting OGTT to women in their third trimester of pregnancy. The primary outcome was uptake of CHW-delivered OGTT. Secondary outcomes included GDM prevalence and linkage to GDM care. Individual interviews were conducted with purposively sampled pregnant women, CHWs, and local clinicians to assess barriers and facilitators of this approach. From October 2021-June 2022, 248 eligible pregnant women were identified. Of these, 223 (90%) accepted CHW-delivered OGTT and 31 (14%) were diagnosed with GDM. Thirty (97%) women diagnosed with GDM subsequently sought GDM care; only 10 (33%) received lifestyle counseling or pharmacologic therapy. Qualitative interviews indicated that CHW-delivered testing was considered highly acceptable as home-based testing saved time and was more convenient than clinic-based testing. Inconsistent clinical management of GDM was attributed to providers' lack of time to deliver counseling, and perceptions that low-income populations are not at risk for GDM. Convenience and trust in a CHW-delivered GDM screening program resulted in high access to gold-standard OGTT screening and identification of a high GDM prevalence among pregnant women in two urban slum communities. Appropriate linkage to care was limited by clinician time constraints and misperceptions of GDM risk. CHW-delivered GDM screening and counseling may improve health education and access to preventive healthcare, offloading busy public clinics in high-need, low-resource settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Puja Chebrolu
- Center for Global Health, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Andrea Chalem
- Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Matthew Ponticiello
- Department of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
| | - Kathryn Broderick
- Center for Global Health, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Arthi Vaidyanathan
- Center for Global Health, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Rachel Lorenc
- Center for Global Health, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America
| | | | | | - Jyoti S. Mathad
- Center for Global Health, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Radhika Sundararajan
- Center for Global Health, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America
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