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 .
Telephone Modem Access Improves Diabetes Control in Those with Insulin-Requiring Diabetes
OBJECTIVE To assess whether modem access improves diabetes control in IDDM patients . RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Forty-two patients participated in the study and were followed for 12 wk . The patients were r and omly divided into two groups at baseline , a modem group and a control group . There were no significant differences between HbA1c , r and om blood glucose , and weight between the groups at the beginning of the study . Patients were asked to perform five blood glucose determinations/day ( before breakfast , before lunch , afternoon [ 1500 ] , before dinner , and at bedtime ) twice/week . The modem group transferred their data over the phone once/week . The control group would bring in their results on their regular visits every 6 wk . Patients in the modem group were counseled every week over the telephone after transferring results to adjust insulin and food intake if necessary . RESULTS In the modem group , HbA1c improved from 0.106 to 0.092 ( 13.20 % ) . The control group improved from 0.112 to 0.102 ( 8.9 % ) . There was no significant change in weight , r and om blood glucose , or insulin . CONCLUSIONS The use of telephone modem-based patient-monitoring systems in diabetes clinical research seems to stimulate the patient to keep closer control of blood glucose levels . It might be especially useful in rural setting s , for which this study was design ed
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 .