There were three reported  deaths out of 3578 participants .Computer-based  diabetes self-management interventions currently have limited effectiveness .
Current interventions do not show adequate evidence for improving depression , health-related quality of life or weight .
AUTHORS ' CONCLUSIONS Computer-based diabetes self-management interventions to manage type 2 diabetes appear to have a small beneficial effect on blood glucose control and the effect was larger in the mobile phone subgroup .
There is no evidence to show benefits in other biological outcomes or any cognitive , behavioural or emotional outcomes
BACKGROUND Diabetes is one of the commonest chronic medical conditions , affecting around 347 million adults worldwide .
Structured patient education programmes reduce the risk of diabetes-related complications four-fold .
Internet-based self-management programmes have been shown to be effective for a number of long-term conditions , but it is unclear what are the essential or effective components of such programmes .
If computer-based self-management interventions improve outcomes in type 2 diabetes , they could potentially provide a cost-effective option for reducing the burdens placed on patients and healthcare systems by this long-term condition .
OBJECTIVES To assess the effects on health status and health-related quality of life of computer-based diabetes self-management interventions for adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus .
Development and evaluation of a patient-oriented education system for diabetes management
PURPOSE To develop and evaluate a Web-based , patient-orientated diabetic education management ( POEM ) system . METHODS The POEM system has been developed to extend hospital patient education by integrating patients ' medical care data into their education program components and presenting them on the Web . Since most patients are concerned about their medical care data , the POEM system can provide the incentives for patients to continuously and persistently log in and learn the required knowledge and skills , improving their clinical outcomes . A quasi-experimental method that uses control groups and pretests was used to evaluate the outcomes of the system intervention . We recruited patients with type-2 diabetes and alternatively assigned them to intervention and control groups . We compared laboratory test results including fasting blood glucose , HbA1c , total cholesterol , triglyceride ( TG ) , and HDL between the two groups from the first visit through each follow-up visit . The study period progressed from September 2003 to May 2004 at the Metabolism Center of a medical teaching hospital in Taipei . RESULTS In this study , we recruited 274 participants : 134 ( 57 % males and 43 % females ) in the intervention group and 140 ( 46 % males and 54 % females ) in the control group . The patients ' laboratory test results from the first visit for fasting blood glucose , HbA1c , total cholesterol level , TG , and HDL in the intervention and control groups were respectively 187.54+/-77.10 and 189.99+/-73.49 mg/dl , 9.03 + /- 2.79 % and 8.95 + /- 2.23 % , 193.29 + /- 47.93 and 202.52 + /- 58.45 mg/dl , 152.48 + /- 70.85 and 157.37 + /- 74.88 mg/dl , and 44.97 + /- 12.09 and 45.32 + /- 12.08 mg/dl . There were three follow-up visits during the study period . We collected laboratory test results of the two groups through each of the following visits and analyzed them using ANCOVA . We discovered a significant difference in fasting blood glucose levels between intervention and control group as early as the first follow-up . At the second follow-up , both fasting blood glucose and HBA1c levels were significantly different between intervention and control group . At the third follow-up , there was a significant difference in fasting blood glucose , HBA1c , and total cholesterol between intervention and control group . We also monitored the number of logins for the patients in the intervention group during the follow-up period . The result showed the patients had consistently logged into the POEM system  ( about 8.5 + /- 3.7 logins per person per month after 3 months enrollment ) . Thus , the patients in the intervention group had better control of their fasting blood glucose , HbA1c and total cholesterol levels than those in the control group due to the assistance of the system . CONCLUSIONS The POEM system can help patients control their glucose , HbA1c and total cholesterol levels to manage their diabetes , providing an easy and inexpensive way to extend hospital-based patient education services for community-based continuous patient education
There were three reported  deaths out of 3578 participants .Computer-based  diabetes self-management interventions currently have limited effectiveness .
Current interventions do not show adequate evidence for improving depression , health-related quality of life or weight .
AUTHORS ' CONCLUSIONS Computer-based diabetes self-management interventions to manage type 2 diabetes appear to have a small beneficial effect on blood glucose control and the effect was larger in the mobile phone subgroup .
There is no evidence to show benefits in other biological outcomes or any cognitive , behavioural or emotional outcomes
BACKGROUND Diabetes is one of the commonest chronic medical conditions , affecting around 347 million adults worldwide .
Structured patient education programmes reduce the risk of diabetes-related complications four-fold .
Internet-based self-management programmes have been shown to be effective for a number of long-term conditions , but it is unclear what are the essential or effective components of such programmes .
If computer-based self-management interventions improve outcomes in type 2 diabetes , they could potentially provide a cost-effective option for reducing the burdens placed on patients and healthcare systems by this long-term condition .
OBJECTIVES To assess the effects on health status and health-related quality of life of computer-based diabetes self-management interventions for adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus .