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 .
Reinforcement of adherence to prescription recommendations in Asian Indian diabetes patients using short message service (SMS)--a pilot study.
OBJECTIVES To investigate the acceptability and feasibility of using short message services ( SMS ) via cell phones to ensure adherence to management prescriptions by diabetic patients . METHODS Type 2 diabetic patients with 5 or more years of diabetes and having HbA1c between 7.0 % to 10 % were r and omized to the control arm ( n = 105 ) to receive st and ard care and to the intervention arm ( SMS , n = 110 ) . Messages in English on principles of diabetes management were sent once in 3 days , the contents and frequencies varied as per the patients ' preferences . The study duration was 1 year . All participants were advised to report for quarterly clinic visits . A comparative assessment of the clinical , biochemical and anthropometric outcomes was made among the groups at the annual visit . RESULTS Annual review was possible in 71 % of intervention group and 63 % of control group . SMS was acceptable to the patients and the median number requested was 2 per week . HbA1c and plasma lipids improved significantly in the SMS group . CONCLUSIONS The pilot study showed that frequent communication via SMS was acceptable to diabetic patients and it helped to improve the health outcomes
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 .