Factors in Placement and Enrollment of Primary Care Patients in YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program, Bronx, New York, 2010–2015

Introduction The reach of the New York State YMCA’s Diabetes PreventionProgram (DPP) to at-risk populations may be increased throughintegration with primary care settings. Although considerable efforthas been made in the referral and retention of patients, little isknown about the factors associated with the placement of potentialparticipants into YMCA’s DPP.MethodsAmong Montefiore Health System (MHS) patients referred toYMCA’s DPP (n = 1,249) from July 10, 2010, through November11, 2015, we identified demographic factors (eg, age, preferredlanguage) and primary care practice-level factors (eg, timebetween referral and start of session, session season) associatedwith placement into a session and subsequent drop-out. We alsoevaluated factors associated with weight loss.ResultsPatients were predominantly female (71%) and aged 45 years orolder (71%). Patients preferring sessions in Spanish were less oftenplaced in sessions. Patients aged 18 to 44 years were less often placed (P =.01) and enrolled (P =.001) than patients aged 60years or older. Sessions conducted in the summer and spring hadhigher enrollment than fall and winter months. Patients who startedthe YMCA’s DPP within 2 months of their referral date weremore often enrolled (54.4%) than patients who waited 4 or moremonths (21.6%) to start their sessions. Patients aged 45 to 59 yearslost marginally less weight than those aged 60 years or older(−3.1% vs −3.8%; P =.07).ConclusionAlthough this evaluation gives some insight into the barriers toplacement and enrollment in YMCA’s DPP, challenges remain.Efforts