Telemedicine Diabetes Program Improves Outcomes
Among adults with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes, a telemedicine diabetes regimen leads to better outcomes than routine care: greater reductions in body weight, HbA1c, and number of antidiabetes medications. As described in Diabetes Care, the interventional study was conducted in Germany against a backdrop of rising rates of type 2 diabetes and growing costs of antidiabetes medicines.
The program included weekly coaching, telemonitoring, self-monitoring of blood glucose, and protein-rich meal replacement. In addition, all study candidates received a self-management guide, step counter, and scale and were encouraged to use these daily. In contrast, the traditional care route consisted of quarterly visits with the physician.
After 12 weeks of treatment, the telemedicine participants had significantly lower HbA1c, weight, BMI, and systolic blood pressure compared to those receiving routine care. These outcomes persisted at the 26 and 52-week follow ups.
The study’s authors suggest that such a telemedicine program could be used nationally with diabetes management programs to support lifestyle change as diabetes patients grow older. The next step is to compare one-time telemedicine training with multi-year repetitions for long-term motivation and results. Furthermore, the researchers intend to determine whether the telemedicine-assisted lifestyle changes can reduce complications of diabetes.
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