Telemedicine had no convincing effect on quality of life , mortality or hypoglycemia .
INTERPRETATION : Compared with usual care , the addition of telemedicine , especially systems that allowed medication adjustments with or without text messaging or a Web portal , improved HbA1C but not other clinical ly relevant outcomes among patients with diabetes
BACKGROUND : Telemedicine , the use of telecommunications to deliver health services , expertise and information , is a promising but unproven tool for improving the quality of  diabetes care  .
We summarized the effectiveness of different methods of telemedicine for the management of diabetes compared with usual care .
Establishment of blood glucose monitoring system using the internet.
OBJECTIVE The Internet is used worldwide as a communication tool . To improve the quality of diabetes control , we investigated the effectiveness of an Internet-based blood glucose monitoring system ( IBGMS ) on controlling the changes in HbA(1c ) levels . RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We conducted a r and omized clinical trial involving 110 patients who visited the outpatient clinic at the Kangnam St. Mary 's Hospital for 3 months . The study subjects were treated with IBGMS for 12 weeks , and the control group received the usual outpatient management over the same period .  HbA(1c ) and other laboratory tests were performed twice , once at the beginning of the study and again at the end of the study . RESULTS The test results from the beginning of the study established that there were no significant differences between the two groups with respect to age , sex , diabetes duration , BMI , blood pressure , HbA(1c ) , and other laboratory data . On follow-up examination 12 weeks later , HbA(1c ) levels were significantly decreased from 7.59 to 6.94 % within the intervention group ( P < 0.001 ) . At the end of the study , HbA(1c ) levels in the intervention group were significantly lower than in the control group after adjusting the baseline HbA(1c ) ( 6.94 vs. 7.62 % ; P < 0.001 , respectively ) . Among patients with baseline HbA(1c ) < 7.0 % , the patients in the intervention group had lower HbA(1c ) than those in the control group ( 6.38 vs. 6.99 % ; P < 0.05 ) . Among the patients with a baseline HbA(1c ) > or = 7.0 % , the difference between the two groups appeared more obvious : HbA(1c ) levels at the end of the study were 8.12 % . CONCLUSIONS This new IBGMS result ed in a significant reduction of HbA(1c ) during the study period . We propose that this IBGMS be used as a method for improving diabetes control
Telemedicine had no convincing effect on quality of life , mortality or hypoglycemia .
INTERPRETATION : Compared with usual care , the addition of telemedicine , especially systems that allowed medication adjustments with or without text messaging or a Web portal , improved HbA1C but not other clinical ly relevant outcomes among patients with diabetes
BACKGROUND : Telemedicine , the use of telecommunications to deliver health services , expertise and information , is a promising but unproven tool for improving the quality of  diabetes care  .
We summarized the effectiveness of different methods of telemedicine for the management of diabetes compared with usual care .