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 .
The Diabeo Software Enabling Individualized Insulin Dose Adjustments Combined With Telemedicine Support Improves HbA1c in Poorly Controlled Type 1 Diabetic Patients
OBJECTIVE To demonstrate that Diabeo software enabling individualized insulin dose adjustments combined with telemedicine support significantly improves HbA1c in poorly controlled type 1 diabetic patients . RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS In a six-month open-label parallel-group , multicenter study , adult patients ( n = 180 ) with type 1 diabetes ( > 1 year ) , on a basal-bolus insulin regimen ( > 6 months ) , with HbA1c ≥8 % , were r and omized to usual quarterly follow-up ( G1 ) , home use of a smartphone recommending insulin doses with quarterly visits ( G2 ) , or use of the smartphone with short teleconsultations every 2 weeks but no visit until point end ( G3 ) . RESULTS Six-month mean HbA1c in G3 ( 8.41 ± 1.04 % ) was lower than in G1 ( 9.10 ± 1.16 % ; P = 0.0019 ) . G2 displayed intermediate results ( 8.63 ± 1.07 % ) . The Diabeo system gave a 0.91 % ( 0.60 ; 1.21 ) improvement in HbA1c over controls and a 0.67 % ( 0.35 ; 0.99 ) reduction when used without teleconsultation . There was no difference in the frequency of hypoglycemic episodes or in medical time spent for hospital or telephone consultations . However , patients in G1 and G2 spent nearly 5 h more than G3 patients attending hospital visits . CONCLUSIONS The Diabeo system gives a substantial improvement to metabolic control in chronic , poorly controlled type 1 diabetic patients without requiring more medical time and at a lower overall cost for the patient than usual care
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 .