Food as Medicine for HIV and Diabetes

In contemporary practice for people with HIV, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has become an important comorbidity. T2DM is 1.5 times more common in people with HIV than the general population. Among those with T2DM, people with HIV have greater risk for weight gain, lower diet quality, and higher hemoglobin A1c. All of this puts people with HIV and T2DM at substantial risk for complications, including chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, and premature mortality. Food insecurity, "lack of access to enough food for an active, healthy life", is a major contributor to this risk. Food insecurity is 2 to 3 times more common among people with HIV than the general population. Food insecurity is associated with both worse T2DM control and more T2DM complications.

Medically tailored meal home delivery programs relieve food insecurity for people with HIV. Medically tailored meals emerged to treat food insecurity among those with AIDS in the 1990's. Medically tailored meal programs deliver fully prepared meals, tailored by a registered dietitian to an individual's medical needs. Although HIV care has changed, medically tailored meal interventions for people with HIV have not kept pace. Most medically tailored meal programs do not provide the intensive lifestyle intervention needed to counter the health threats seen in modern HIV care. These threats include the metabolic effects of anti-retroviral medications, chronic inflammation, aging, and obesogenic environments. For these reasons, it is critical to test new models of medically tailored meal for people with HIV.

The investigators has developed a medically tailored meal intervention that combines meal delivery with an evidence-based lifestyle intervention designed to improve weight loss and diabetes self-management. The goal for this project is to test whether this medically tailored meal intervention can lead to improvements in weight, hemoglobin A1c, and in patient-reported outcomes such as food insecurity, quality of life, and diabetes distress, compared with a standard medically tailored meal intervention.

Thus, the investigators propose a randomized comparative effectiveness trial to assess a community-based medically tailored meals intervention (n=200). It will be conducted among diverse participants with HIV and T2DM or high risk for T2DM, referred for medically tailored meals. Adults with hemoglobin A1c less than 12.0%, and BMI ≥ 23 kg/m\^2 will be enrolled and randomly assigned to intervention or standard medically tailored meals. The intervention group will receive meal delivery and intensive lifestyle intervention for 12 months, while the comparison group will receive meal delivery along with standard nutrition education for 12 months. Outcomes will be assessed at 6, 12, and 18 months. The primary outcome is weight at 6 months. Secondary outcomes include hemoglobin a1c, food security, quality of life, and diabetes distress.

Primary Outcome Measures

1. Bodyweight at Month 6
   Bodyweight measured in Kg

Secondary Outcome Measures

1. Bodyweight at Month 12
   Bodyweight measured in Kg
2. Bodyweight at Month 18
   Bodyweight measured in Kg
3. Hemoglobin A1c at Month 6
   Hemoglobin A1c Level
4. Hemoglobin A1c at Month 12
   Hemoglobin A1c Level
5. Hemoglobin A1c at Month 18
   Hemoglobin A1c Level
6. Health-Related Quality of Life Score as assessed by Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS)-29 at Month 6
   The PROMIS-29 includes seven health related quality of life domains (Physical Functioning, Anxiety, Depression, Fatigue, Sleep Disturbance, Social Functioning, and Pain), and the pain domain has two subdomains (interference and intensity). Raw scores, except pain intensity, are transformed using the T-score metric based on the item response theory calibrations in which scores have a mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10 for the general population in the US. A higher PROMIS T-score implies more of the concept being measured; i.e., a higher PROMIS score on physical function indicates better functioning, whereas a higher score on depression indicates more severe depressive symptoms. Will report overall score and scores for each domain. From these data will also calculate a PROMIS-Preference (PROPr score) (PROPr scores range from -0.022 (worst) to 1.0 (best)).
7. Health-Related Quality of Life Score as assessed by PROMIS-29 at Month 12
   The PROMIS-29 includes seven health related quality of life domains (Physical Functioning, Anxiety, Depression, Fatigue, Sleep Disturbance, Social Functioning, and Pain), and the pain domain has two subdomains (interference and intensity). Raw scores, except pain intensity, are transformed using the T-score metric based on the item response theory calibrations in which scores have a mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10 for the general population in the US. A higher PROMIS T-score implies more of the concept being measured; i.e., a higher PROMIS score on physical function indicates better functioning, whereas a higher score on depression indicates more severe depressive symptoms. Will report overall score and scores for each domain. From these data will also calculate a PROMIS-Preference (PROPr score) (PROPr scores range from -0.022 (worst) to 1.0 (best)).
8. Health-Related Quality of Life Score as assessed by PROMIS-29 at Month 18
   The PROMIS-29 includes seven health related quality of life domains (Physical Functioning, Anxiety, Depression, Fatigue, Sleep Disturbance, Social Functioning, and Pain), and the pain domain has two subdomains (interference and intensity). Raw scores, except pain intensity, are transformed using the T-score metric based on the item response theory calibrations in which scores have a mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10 for the general population in the US. A higher PROMIS T-score implies more of the concept being measured; i.e., a higher PROMIS score on physical function indicates better functioning, whereas a higher score on depression indicates more severe depressive symptoms. Will report overall score and scores for each domain. From these data will also calculate a PROMIS-Preference (PROPr score) (PROPr scores range from -0.022 (worst) to 1.0 (best)).
9. Depressive Symptom Score at Month 6
   Depressive Symptoms as assessed by PROMIS Short Form (PROMIS SF) v1.0 - Depression 4a. Raw scores are transformed using the T-score metric based on the item response theory calibrations in which scores have a mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10 for the general population in the US. A higher PROMIS T-score implies more of the concept being measured; i.e., a higher PROMIS score on depression indicates more severe depressive symptoms.
10. Depressive Symptom Score at Month 12
    Depressive Symptoms as assessed by PROMIS SF v1.0 - Depression 4a. Raw scores are transformed using the T-score metric based on the item response theory calibrations in which scores have a mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10 for the general population in the US. A higher PROMIS T-score implies more of the concept being measured; i.e., a higher PROMIS score on depression indicates more severe depressive symptoms.
11. Depressive Symptom Score at Month 18
    Depressive Symptoms as assessed by PROMIS SF v1.0 - Depression 4a. Raw scores are transformed using the T-score metric based on the item response theory calibrations in which scores have a mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10 for the general population in the US. A higher PROMIS T-score implies more of the concept being measured; i.e., a higher PROMIS score on depression indicates more severe depressive symptoms.
12. Diabetes Distress Score as assessed by Problem Areas in Diabetes (PAID)-11 at Month 6
    Score ranges from 11-55 with higher scores indicating greater diabetes distress
13. Diabetes Distress Score as assessed by PAID-11 at Month 12
    Score ranges from 11-55 with higher scores indicating greater diabetes distress
14. Diabetes Distress Score as assessed by PAID-11 at Month 18
    Score ranges from 11-55 with higher scores indicating greater diabetes distress