UCI team to use $1.4 million award to improve how diabetic children are treated

Sherrie Kaplan and her colleagues in the Health Policy Research Institute at UCI have received a $1.4 million award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to determine how effective diabetes treatments are for children. For the study, the researchers have developed and tested an animated, computer-administered program, the Child Health Rating Inventories, that can be used by young children aged 4-12. They plan to use the CHRIS measures, along with the usual tests physicians use to determine whether diabetes treatments are working, to add the child’s perspective on the impact of treatment on their health and quality of life. This information will help providers ensure the effectiveness of treatments while minimizing their effects on the child’s quality of life. Kaplan, HPRI’s executive co-director in the UCI School of Medicine, said this information has not previously been available to physicians during office visits. The team will conduct the study at children’s hospitals in Orange County, Los Angeles and Boston. PCORI is an independent, nonprofit organization authorized by Congress in 2010. Its mission is to fund research that will provide patients, their caregivers and clinicians with the evidence-based information needed to make better-informed healthcare decisions.