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 .
Group Education and Nurse-Telephone Follow-Up Effects on Blood Glucose Control and Adherence to Treatment in Type 2 Diabetes Patients
Background : Training and continuous dynamic communication between patients and health professionals in chronic diseases like diabetes , is important . The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of diabetes self-care group education and nurse- telephone follow-up on glycemic control and compliance with treatment orders in patients with type 2 diabetes attending to diabetes clinic in khomein . Methods : In this clinical trial , 62 patients with type 2 diabetes who attending to the diabetes clinic selected and were r and omly assigned to experiment and control groups . Self-care group education was applied for case group ( n = 31 ) and they were followed up using telephone calls for 12 weeks by a nurse . The control group ( n = 31 ) received the conventional management .  Demographic characteristics , compliance with treatment recommendations ( diet , drug use , exercise ) and blood glucose control indices were recorded before and after interventions . Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 16 using independent t-test , paired t-test , Chi-square test , non-parametric tests , mixed model ( ANOVA + repeated measure ) and ANCOVA . Results : The mean age of intervention and control groups was 50.9 ± 7.3 and 55.1 ± 10.1 years , respectively . Blood glucose indices ( FBS , 2 hpp BS , Hb A1C ) were improved in both case and control group after intervention but it was only statistically significant in case group P > 0.0001 . During study , percentage of patients with very good compliance in control group decrease from 12.5 % to zero ( 0 % ) , whereas in experiment group these amounts increase from 6.5 % to 90.3 % P > 0.0001 . Conclusions : According to the results of the current study self-care group education and 12 weeks follow-up by a nurse using telephone causes significant improvement in metabolic parameters and adherence to treatment recommendations in diabetic patients
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 .